Hope's What We Crave
by My Beautiful Ending
Summary: Leah stumbles into Mystic Falls with her children one cold night in October, desperate to protect them at all costs -even if that means protecting them from herself. However, her son has other ideas, and singles out the one person who can save her and change their family's future. "Sir, can you help my mom?" Set mid-season 3.
1. Chapter 1

**Hope's What We Crave**

**Chapter 1**

_Leah_

She clenches the wheel until her hands turn white. She stares fixedly at the dark road ahead illuminated only by her headlights. The hunger claws through her constantly, and confined in the car for three weeks, it has only gotten worse. She swallows hard and glances in the rearview mirror at the blond head of her daughter, four years old and fast asleep in her car seat. When she looks at her, she must always see and hear and smell _Grace_, not a heartbeat pumping blood. She has to control herself. She has to.

"Mom?"

She nods jerkily to her son in the passenger seat, not turning to see his worried face. "I'm fine, Malachi," she whispers, but presses the gas a little harder.

The headlights catch a sign that reads "Welcome to Mystic Falls." She sighs with relief before coughing and clenching her jaw. She changes lanes, takes the exit, and prays.

* * *

_Elijah_

Elijah Mikaelson is not incredibly interested in the type of family bonding that Kol and Klaus have in mind –namely, getting as drunk as a vampire can. Having his family back together is wonderful, but this is not how he prefers to celebrate. Still, he is here at the Grill because someone has to keep them from sampling more than the alcohol, though he had wanted to decline like Finn.

He lets his gaze wander over the customers seated at tables, quietly consuming a late night bite of food before exiting into the cool fall air. The bell over the door dings, and he idly turns his head just in time to catch a blur disappearing down the hall to the bathrooms. He frowns, staring at a blond boy, perhaps eleven or twelve, holding the hand of a small girl in the doorway. The boy looks down the hallway to the restrooms anxiously, and then leads his yawning, toddling sister to a booth.

"Elijah! You're not drinking anything!" Kol says, clapping a hand on his shoulder and smirking at him with an amused expression.

"Well, that's because my glass is empty," Elijah says lightly, brushing the odd circumstance away from his mind.

"Then we shall get you something." Kol motions to the bartender, who fills up the glass. Elijah smiles at his younger brother, forever trapped in youthful and playful –sometimes-vengeful –spirit. He swallows the whiskey and focuses on the burning sensation traveling down his throat.

A half hour passes, during which time Klaus has wandered away to alternately stare reverently and make idle conversation with the pretty blond vampire near the end of the bar. Caroline wisely makes him work for every scrap of attention she pays him. Elijah smiles into his drink. Caroline Forbes is the best thing that ever happened to Klaus.

Without a constant drinking buddy, Kol drifts towards the pool tables. Elijah hopes no one will be foolhardy enough to bet a large amount of money against him.

He has almost decided to return home when a slight tug on his coat makes him turn.

The blond boy stands beside him, looking up at him worriedly. His quiet words carry an undercurrent of urgency. "Sir, can you help my mom?"

* * *

Leah clings to the edge of the sink and tries not to cry as her craving fights to claw its way out of her throat. Fumbling with her purse, she finds the cheap plastic water bottle she had bought at a convenience store the week before. She unscrews the cap and turns on the tap, filling the bottle before gulping it down. Her stomach growls as the water fills it but does not satisfy her needs. Pressing her hands to her mouth, Leah leans against the wall and tries to breathe deeply and evenly, even though she feels clammy and wired.

The door swings open and a woman with olive skin and kind eyes comes in the bathroom. She takes in Leah's state and the recently dried tears on her face and stops. "Are you okay?"

Leah nods, turning away and pushing her dirty blond hair off of her shoulder. "Fine," she grinds out. She turns on the sink water, opening up the hot tap and thrusting her hands under the near-blistering heat. She scrubs at her skin while she waits for the woman to finish and leave. She can hear the thumping of her heart and smell the life coming off of her skin, and she wants to pull her hair out for focusing on it.

The woman washes her hands and says, "Are you sure you're –"

"_Yes,_" she hisses, pinching her lips together tightly.

Eyeing her oddly, the woman leaves.

Outside that door there is a restaurant full of people, including her son and daughter. She has to keep it together. She needs to keep control. She can't –

She takes another deep breath and turns off the tap. It would hurt, but it had worked a time or two before. Leah stares at her wrist and brings it up to her mouth, biting into it. She lets her own blood drip down her throat. Hurriedly, she sips and swallows as fast as she can before awful, debilitating cramps wrack her body.

She doubles over, clutching her stomach as the blood she just swallowed threatens to come back up.

* * *

"What seems to be the problem?" Elijah asks, watching this boy curiously.

"She –she's sick. Can you help her?" the boy says again. He clenches his fists, but his sky blue eyes are plaintive and scared.

Elijah looks past the boy towards the tables in the Grill and finally finds the little girl he arrived with. She lies on the cracking leather of the booth and breathes evenly, wrapped in the peaceful shroud of sleep. Ten thirty is too late for a little one to be awake.

Odd. The boy passed half a dozen tables with people in order to reach him.

"Is there some reason you're asking me, specifically?" Elijah asks, raising an eyebrow.

"No one else can help," the boy whispers. "Please, can you?"

"Where is she?" he asks, though he thinks he knows.

"The bathroom."

"Show me." He pushes away from the bar. The boy's face takes on such a look of relief that some of Elijah's nagging thoughts of duplicity are silenced. But not all.

The boy leads him back to the restroom door that is stamped "Women." He pushes it open a crack. "Mom?"

Someone gags inside, and a woman's hoarse voice says, "Go sit down, Malachi; I'm all right."

Elijah takes hold of the door and pushes it open fully. It takes a half-second for him to understand.

He turns to the boy –Malachi. "Do as she says," he says quietly. "I'll take care of her."

The boy nods, holding his gaze with eyes that have only a desperate hope left. Then he pads back down the hallway.

Elijah steps into the restroom and lets the door close, taking in the shell of a woman before him. Her skin is waxy and has an ashen pallor, and she is far too thin for a woman nearly his height. Dark circles ring green-glass eyes fixed by fear at the sight of him –and not just for the usual reasons a woman would be wary to find herself in the same washroom as a man. She is a vampire –a very sick, very hungry vampire.

"Hello," he says, tilting his head slightly to the side.

If she had still had a normal pulse, it would be racing. How had she come to be like this? He lets his eyes wander from her long, tangled blond hair to her ragged tennis shoes. She couldn't have been turned too long ago, but she looks like she has been starving for years. Her eyes have the sheen of a deer caught in a car's headlights –anticipating an oncoming collision.

* * *

"Who are you?" Leah forces out, staring at this man in a black suit. What had Ky gone and done?

"My name is Elijah," the man says, inspecting her with dark eyes. "Your son –Malachi, is it? –asked me to help you."

"I don't need help," she says, but the pain wracks her stomach and makes her gasp, contradicting her words.

"Clearly, you do," he says, taking a step forward as his eyes narrow.

"Don't –don't –" Leah warns, throwing up a hand to ward him off. Doesn't he know she could hurt him? She attempts to catch his eye. "You have to leave –"

He sighs lightly and takes another step forward, but the bathroom door opens behind him. He turns to face the intruder –an older woman with dark skin and gray hair.

"Oh, is this the wrong –" the older woman breaks off at the sight of her agitated state. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing's the matter," he says gently, catching her eye. "Go about your business and forget you saw us."

The woman freezes for a second, and then she smiles happily. "I only came in to wash my hands," she says conversationally, going to the sink.

Leah gulps and scoots away from her, but the only way to move is closer to the man, who has turned back around. _A rock and a hard place,_ Leah thinks in despair.

"It's my son's birthday dinner," the woman continues, smiling matronly.

"Congratulations," the man says politely, but his eyes remain on Leah.

"Thank you," the woman beams. "You have a nice evening."

"You as well," he replies absently as she exits the restroom.

"What did you do?" Leah asks, staring in confusion as the door swings closed.

"I compelled her."

Her head snaps up. "You –"

"Yes."

Leah reevaluates his frame, trying to decide if he is a threat. He stands casually, hands in his pockets, but a quiet strength hides in his shoulders and his arms. In her surprise and fear, she had missed it.

He continues, "Like you, I'm a vampire, although I don't know how your son could have known when he asked me to help you."

"Ky has a sense about people," she whispers, feeling the adrenaline quickly leave her and making her bones watery. He makes no move towards her, so she lets herself relax a bit. She leans against the tile wall, taking in the coolness.

"You look hungry. When did you last feed?"

"I –I don't –I can't drink blood," she stammers, feeling coherence leave her words.

"You must," he says simply. "You'll die without it."

"I can't!" she says. "I can't want to hurt my children, I can't!" She moans as another spike of pain radiated through her abdomen.

"What have you done to yourself?" he asks quietly.

"I…" Tears threaten at the corners of her eyes. Leah offers up her barely-healed wrist as an answer.

His firm, cool hand takes hold of hers as he inspects the damage. "You tried to drink your own blood?" he says incredulously. "No wonder you're in pain, foolish woman; your body knows that's not any good for it."  
"I can do it, I've done it before –" she winces, and the first tear trails down her face.

* * *

"Vampires cannot live without blood," Elijah says firmly. "It is a fact. Do you want to die and leave your children alone?" he asks, attempting to reason with her.

"No, but I can't hurt them; I don't want to hurt them and I'm scared that I will!" She shudders and begins to cry.

He knows that berating this woman about her regrettable lack of knowledge of anything vampire will have to wait. She needs to be pulled back from the brink of starvation before anything else happens. He lets go of her hand and shrugs off his suit jacket, placing it on the counter. He rolls up one of his sleeves and offers her his wrist. "Drink," he says simply.

She stares up at him through a sheen of tears, uncomprehending.

"Drink," he repeats, reaching with his other hand to cradle the back of her head.

Understanding dawns in her eyes, but still she shakes her head and attempts to push the wrist he offers away. She feels as fragile as a bird, feather-light with hollow bones.

"Don't you think," Elijah says softly, "you would be able to help your children more if you weren't starving? Don't you think they want you to be whole?"

The fear still shines bright in her eyes, but her resolve crumbles away. He bites into his wrist and presses it gently against her lips.

* * *

Leah drinks, sucking away the blood that wells into her mouth from the wound on his wrist. As the liquid runs down her throat, her stomach relaxes and a feeling of peace flows over her. Soon, though, his skin begins to heal and the wound seals up. He moves his wrist from her mouth back to his and bites it again.

"No, I –I'm better now –" she starts to say, even though her hunger hasn't abated completely, but he cuts her off.

"Go on." He presses the wound to her lips.

Leah keeps her eyes on him as she drinks, searching for some signal, some change in expression that would indicate he was through, that he would not continue to feed her. But his face never changes enough for her to know what he is thinking. Thoughts pass too quickly behind his eyes for her to catch.

They go back and forth several times; each time he opens up his wrist for her. Somehow he knows that she will only take what he offers and no more. She won't tear into his wrist freely.

Soon, Leah's stomach aches pleasantly like she has just had a large dinner, and her eyes flutter. She feels heavy and sleepy. And then her skin begins to tingle. She can smell the bodies outside the door, but the hunger doesn't stir. It sleeps, sated. She becomes aware of the feel of his skin under her lips, cool and taut and strong.

* * *

Elijah watches, satisfied, as her skin becomes warm and healthy as the pallor of death vanishes, along with the dark circles under her eyes. His blood puts meat on her bones, and she stops resembling a desiccated skeleton. The corner of his lip turns up in a smile.

"Feeling better?" he asks as his wrist heals for the last time. He lets go of her and rolls his sleeve back down.

She stares at him in bewilderment before wiping away the small trickles of blood at the corner of her mouth. "Yes," she says wonderingly. "I don't think I've ever felt like this."

_That's because you've never had the blood of an Original,_ Elijah thinks, but doesn't say it. Then a thought occurs to him. "Have you never had blood?"

She shakes her head silently, becoming wary for reasons he doesn't understand.

His attention sharpens. "How did you survive transition?" _For that matter, how has she survived this long without it?_

"What?" she asks blankly.

"The in-between step of becoming a vampire," he says. "You have to drink human blood to complete the process."

"I –I had an IV bag…" she says, shame crossing her face.

"And nothing since? Not even animal blood?"

"No." Her face is more perplexed than anything, but her eyes remain guarded.

He can't believe his ears. It's nothing short of a miracle that she wasn't a walking skeleton. This woman obviously doesn't know anything about being a vampire. And he hates when ignorance continues. "I am surprised you made it this long," he says bluntly. He picks up his jacket and puts it back on. "What is your name?"

"Leah." No last name.

"A pleasure to meet you, Leah," Elijah says, smiling a little.

"Why did you help me?" she asks quietly, fear still hovering in her eyes.

"I could not ignore a mother who loves her children as much as you do," Elijah says. "And you have a very persuasive son who loves you, as well." He crosses to the bathroom door and holds it open to her. "Should we not assure him that you are better?"

Leah hesitates, but then nods, grabbing her purse and exiting the bathroom. As he follows her slowly, it occurs to him that her eyes did not turn red, and the telltale black veins did not appear on her face –not once.

* * *

**AN: hello! This has been the most intense labor of love (4 months WOW) and it's finished! I'm planning on updating every couple of days. I hope you enjoy!**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: oh my word, thank you so much for the reviews and encouraging words! It means a lot to me, guys! I hope you like this new chapter :) If anyone wants to see fun graphics for this story, you can go to my tumblr (link on my profile). They're under the tag "Elijah and Leah".  
**

**And j****ust a few notes, in case anyone wondered: Malachi's name (and his nickname) end like EYE, not like ee, when I page break I'm usually changing POV's, and I'm going to try to update three times a week. :)**

* * *

**Chapter 2**

Ky spots her the moment Leah and her good Samaritan step out of the hallway. He hops out of the booth and runs to her. "Mom!" he exclaims, throwing his arms around her and shaking with relief. "You're better," he whispers.

"I am," she confirms, and wraps her own arms around him tightly. She can hear his heart, and it slows as he hugs her for the first time in a long, long time. His pulse doesn't call to her. Her hands weave through his hair, memorizing the feeling. She hasn't trusted herself to be close to him in a very long time.

He pulls back from her and inspects her face, drinking in the sight of her. A lump forms in her throat.

She snuck a glance at herself in the mirror before leaving the bathroom, and she knows the difference in her face. She looks like the mother he remembers from years past: full of life –though it's the opposite of true.

"Thank you," he says breathlessly to the silent man a step away.

She takes a minute to assess the well-dressed man in this new context. He has the abnormally slow heartbeat she has come to recognize in herself –like several people in the restaurant, surprisingly –but Malachi asked him to help her, so he must be… must be….

"It was my pleasure," the man says evenly, smiling down at him. "It's Malachi, isn't it?"

Her son nods and steps away from her, holding out his hand. She feels a sudden well of pride, even with her lingering trepidation. She has raised him right.

"Yes, but you can call me Ky," Malachi says, and they shake. "Who're you?"

"Elijah Mikaelson." He smiles. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

She turns away from them and touches her sleeping daughter gently on the shoulder, pretending not to hear their conversation behind her.

"How long," Elijah says quietly, "has your mother been a vampire, Ky?"

"Since Grace was born," Ky says simply.

"And Grace is…"

"Four and a half."

Grace blinks drowsy eyes and sits up, rubbing her face. Leah waits. For a very long heartbeat, Grace's face stays blank, but then recognition dawns in her eyes and a beaming smile breaks over her face. She stretches out her arms and Leah sweeps her up, holding her tight against her chest and breathing in the sweet smell of her girl, all milk and spit and waffles. Grace snuggles into her neck, and Leah thinks her heart might break with happiness. How long has it been since she could hold her baby without fearing herself? How long since she last kissed her, touched her?

_Too long_, she thinks, closing her eyes to hold onto this moment. _Far too long_.

* * *

From the way Leah is embracing her children, he believes she really has been on a starvation diet, one with dangerous consequences.

Grace snuggles against her mother's neck. Her eyes, the same blue as her brother, look up and land on him She props her chin up on her mother's shoulder and smiles, waggling her small fingers at him.

Elijah finds himself utterly charmed, and finds no reason to resist the smile tugging relentlessly at his mouth.

"Grace says hi," Malachi says from beside him. "She doesn't talk."

"Hello there," Elijah says quietly, still smiling, but awareness has settled over him like a mantle. This family's brokenness does not emit from their mother's vampire status, though it certainly must contribute. There is a deeper wound, and a reason they drove into Mystic Falls at ten o'clock at night.

He keeps his voice deliberately light to take the sting out of what might be a loaded question. "So what brings your family to Mystic Falls?"

He can hear the boy's heartbeat spike at his query, and Leah turns around, fearful and guarded. "Just passing through," she says, avoiding his eyes.

His suspicions were right. He has repaired a veneer. There is still damage below the surface.

"Are you in need of somewhere to stay?"

"Like I said. We're just passing through," she stresses, swallowing.

It isn't his place to press. He has no right to ask her for her story or force help on her (even though she clearly needs it). He gave her his blood freely; he will not ask for any sort of repayment. All he can do is tell the truth.

"Mystic Falls is a good place for our kind," he tells her. And it's true. There is a fragile peace here now between his family and Elena and the Salvatore brothers and their friends. How long it will last is anybody's guess, considering the violate nature of some of the people involved (Klaus, Kol, Damon Salvatore), but for now, there is no violence. And it certainly wouldn't touch her family, when this woman so desperately wants to keep them safe. "It's a good place to start over. And I'm told that the schools are excellent. If you are tired of passing through… please consider it."

Elijah shakes Malachi's hand, and smiles at the little girl again, whose eyes sparkle before she ducks her head back into her mother's neck.

She bites her lip. "Thank you." Leah's eyes carry the emotions she cannot express with mere words.

He extends his hand to her, and her green eyes gage him and his intentions. She slowly, hesitantly lifts her hand, and he takes it lightly, bowing over it and brushing his lips to her knuckles, a remnant of old habits from a few hundred years ago.

"You are most welcome, Leah."

* * *

The door closes softly behind him, the bell dinging faintly above the music and voices.

She doesn't know what to do with the lingering feeling of his lips on her skin.

_It's only fair_, part of her brain whispers. _Your lips were on his._

She can't think about that yet; she can't remember the coppery taste sliding down her throat. She will process that later. Right now, Leah has to get her children in the car and drive until the sky lightens and they have to find a place to stop. She is no use to them as ash.

And she is no use to them starved and barely hanging onto her humanity. She knows that now.

She owes that man a debt that she can't ever repay. And that's a scary thought.

"Come on, Ky, let's go," she says, handing him his coat.

He shrugs it on obediently, but says, "Mom, I want to stay here."

"Ky, it's not safe –"

"It's not safe anywhere!" he says, and Leah knows he doesn't mean to add a silent '_with you' –_she _knows_ Malachi would never think that –but she thinks it. She thinks it quite a lot.

She thought a lot about giving them up to another set of parents, ensuring them a safe, normal life. It would be better for them. But they're _hers_, and she can't just let them go.

She secretly fears that without her children she would have no reason to continue, and she's not sure what to do with that. Yes, she has technically already died, but something within her tenaciously refuses to give up.

"Malachi…" she sighs as she carries a sleepy Grace out of the Grill.

"Mom, how far is far enough?" Ky demands as the cold wind hits him, and he gasps slightly.

The cold doesn't affect her. Leah registers that it is, in fact, cold, but her body doesn't respond to the temperature anymore. She walks to their beat up '97 Ford and gently slides Grace into her car seat.

Malachi takes her silence for submission. "We're never going to be able to go far enough, so why –why don't we just stop here? Just for a while?"

"Ky… there were a lot of vampires in that bar," Leah tells him softly. "At least three, maybe more. Just there alone."

"That don't mean they're bad!" Ky exclaims, pulling on her sleeve. "That don't –doesn't –mean _you're_ –" His grammar falters and his voice breaks as he clings to her, desperate.

"I know, Ky," she manages to say, feeling tears on the horizon again.

"This is a good place," he insists, clutching her waist and sniffing. "Elijah helped you. He's good. This is a good place. Please, Mom."

Three weeks in a car with no end in sight has worn them all thin –too thin.

"One day," she forces out. "We'll stop for one day, and we'll rest and think."

He sighs wordlessly and nods into her chest.

Her hands wander over his head and memorize his face in the dark. Her poor little man has had to grow up far too soon. She asks too much of him –he's only twelve. But she doesn't know any other way.

She doesn't think he knows any other way, either. Malachi listens to the silences –in her, in Grace, in others. He listens and understands and speaks the words that they can't say. It's a burden that's too much to ask, but she has never voiced it. Her son took it upon himself.

Of all the ways she is broken, that is the most beautiful.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: y'all's reviews make my day. Thank you SO MUCH.**

**Chapter 3**

Elijah tells himself that he was not purposefully looking for a sign that the little family –he doesn't even know the surname –has remained in town. He maintains that he merely caught the scent of the two children on Main Street and happened to be walking in the same general direction, so he followed it out of simple curiosity.

Denial, Rebekah would say, is not just a river in Egypt.

He ends up in front of the glass windows of the Laundromat. Malachi slouches on a chair, buried in a book, but Grace is coloring on the tiled floor, and she looks up when a shadow crosses her artwork.

For a split second, consternation attacks him as she squints up through the glass –will she remember him? –but her sunny smile washes his doubts away. She waves, and he smiles down at her. He hopes –selfishly, greatly –that her ability to coax a smile from him will continue.

Elijah has need of smiles. Something is passing between his Mother and Finn, and however much she professes to have forgiven Niklaus, he cannot see in her the kind of love Leah gives her children. Esther is not soft –her eyes are stone and her arms are iron hard. He cannot pinpoint when she acquired her armor; he can remember kind, sweet hands holding his when he was small, but that was a thousand years ago.

If he has learned anything during that time, it is that people change.

Without warning, Malachi looks up from his book and squints at the person his sister is waving at.

_This would probably be a good time to enter_, Elijah thinks, doing so.

The comfortable thud-thud-thud of the washers and dryers drown out the clink of the broken bell. Soap smells are everywhere, as well as a hint of vervain –some enterprising soul is endeavoring to wash their clothes in the stuff.

_Kudos_, Elijah thinks. The effort is unique.

"Hi," Malachi says, staring at him oddly. Grace's attention is once more on her coloring book.

Elijah takes a seat in one of the blue plastic chairs that manages to do absolutely nothing for posture and support. "I see your mother decided to stay in town." Where _is_ Leah? For a mother so remarkably protective of her children, she is nowhere to be found.

Still staring, he replies, "For a day, she said. Then we'll see."

"Where is she?"

"She's at the motel," Ky says. "How are you here?"

Elijah raises an eyebrow, not sure to what he is referring.

"She can't come out during the day because of the sun," Ky clarifies. "How are you out here?"

_Oh. _He had seen a ring on her finger the night before –he simply assumed it was a daylight ring. It must have been a wedding ring. "I have this," he said, lifting his hand and showing the old lapis lazuli ring to Malachi. "A witch placed a spell on it so I can walk outside." No need to drag in family details just yet.

"Really?" The boy leans forward, inspecting it. "How does the spell work?"

"As I am not a witch, I don't know the specifics," Elijah said, putting his hand back down.

"It looks really old."

"It is."

"Are you really old?"

Elijah smirks. "Yes."

Grace picks herself up from the floor and brings her colors and coloring book over to her brother, scrutinizing Elijah's face in the process. "Grace says you don't look old," Ky says, dutifully looking at the drawing being shoved under his nose. "But I bet that's a vampire thing, isn't it?"

"Yes, I don't age," Elijah says vaguely, frowning slightly at the little girl. "Malachi, does your sister ever talk?"

"Not out loud," Malachi says. "That doesn't look like a cow, Gracie." The drawing in his hands looks more like a five-legged dog with a pink umbrella sprouting from its stomach.

_How_ is probably not a question a five year old and twelve year old would be able to answer to his satisfaction. However… "Why doesn't she talk?"

The girl in question turns to a fresh sheet of paper and begins again with a new crayon. Malachi's eyes flicker between his sister and Elijah, trying to decide how much is too much to share. "She got scared of our dad." His blue eyes go dark.

He'll tread carefully for now. He doesn't know what will happen if he pushes too hard. The last thing he wants is to break this family further. "I'm sorry," he says. "I used to be afraid of my father, too."

Malachi meets his eyes again, searching. Whatever he finds seems to satisfy him. He nods.

"Where are you staying? I can give you a ride after your laundry is done, if you like," Elijah offers. "My car is around the corner."

Ky opens his mouth, and then stops. What he says isn't what Elijah expects. "Your car doesn't have a car seat."

A practical, honest statement that hinges on his sister's safety bypasses the typical "we shouldn't go places with strangers" refusal. And it brings Elijah up short, again reminded of the fragility of human life. A girl as small and as precious as Grace could be wiped out in an instant if she happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

What a horrifying thought.

"You're absolutely correct," Elijah says. "But I could walk with you."

"That'd be good," Malachi says, smiling slightly.

* * *

The curtains are closed and the door is locked, preventing all possible light access, barring what seeps in under the curtains. She forgot to stuff towels in the bottom of the window sill last night. Leah presses her back against the metal and paint of the motel door, breathing in the lingering scent of her children and listening hard for footsteps, heartbeats, anything to signal their return.

It absolutely kills her that she has to let Ky go to a store, a Laundromat, a restaurant by himself and try to run their lives in daylight. But she has no choice. Some things cannot be done by night. And she adds to his burden by asking him to take Grace along with him, but what kind of would Grace have hidden in motel rooms and in the backseat of a car? They both need people –they need human life.

But she knows it will never be one hundred percent safe, and she worries. She closes her eyes and lets her head rest against the door, breathing evenly and slowly. They will come back.

They have to come back.

Two small footsteps move toward her, and she sighs with relief. She gets to her feet and moves away from the door before she realizes there are _three_ sets of footsteps.

The key turns in the lock, and Malachi slowly pushes the door open, letting the sunlight arc across the floor, giving her a chance to move if she hasn't estimated correctly. Three weeks of motels have given them great practice. But Ky isn't the one holding their laundry bag.

Elijah Mikaelson hands the bag to Ky as her son and daughter step over the threshold into the tiny room with two beds, a TV, and little else. He catches her eye and smiles. "I apologize for the intrusion, but I ran into Malachi and Grace in town." His voice is light.

Leah wraps her arms around herself distractedly. Too many thoughts war for dominance, but she manages a "Thank you." Her t-shirt suddenly seems far too revealing, but luckily her cardigan is within reach. She tugs it on and her arms resume their previous positions, too late remembering he is just as immune to the temperate as she, and will not believe that she was cold.

"Would you –would you like to come in?" she asks, not sure what to do in this situation.

"No, I simply stopped by to see Ky and Grace back safely," he says, swiftly shaking his head, unwilling to trespass her boundaries.

She is incredibly grateful to him, but she's wary of him, too; he's both a vampire and a man, and both have burned her. Figuratively and literally.

"Mom, Elijah has a ring that lets him walk around in the daylight," Malachi says, plopping down on the bed closest to the door. "Can we get you one?"

Her eyes widen. He stands comfortably in the sunlight, just like she had before this mess had begun. She misses its warmth more than she can say, but she can't let herself hope that much. "Honey –"

"A witch made it," Ky continues. "Are there really witches?" he asks Elijah.

"Yes," Elijah says. "Witches, vampires, werewolves, hybrids…"

"Wow," Malachi says, eyes big. "Dad never said anything about witches or were–"

"Malachi." Leah's voice carried a note of warning.

Ky's eyes go stormy, but Grace wraps her arms around Leah's knees and thrusts her coloring book into her mother's hands. Leah picks Grace up effortlessly and settles her on her hip, inspecting her daughter's artwork.

"Is this a cat?" she says, pretending to not understand the picture. Big head shake with bigger smile. "A dog?" Leah gets a giggle this time. "A… horse?" Grace dissolves into laughter. "Ohhh, I _see_. What a nice cow. Hmm. Why does he have five legs?"

"I think one appendage happens to be a tail," Elijah offers from the doorway.

"Yep," Ky says from the bed. The storm has passed, and he swings his legs against the bed frame absently. She likes to avoid the squalls if she can; they don't come often, but they are fierce, and neither of them needs that now.

"If you will permit me, I will take my leave," Elijah says. "I apologize for the intrusion."

"No intrusion," she says, once she finds her voice. "Thank you."

He inclines his head before turning and walking away. Malachi shuts the door behind him.


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: so just about everyone has asked the same question. It gets answered, don't worry! And to my lovely reviewer who so earnestly wanted to know why Caroline was in the character list -you are my favorite, and here you go.  
**

**Chapter 4**

She needs a daylight ring; that much is clear. If she has a daylight ring, then she might be willing to stay, and if she stays, then he will be able to help her.

It might take ages, but he's willing to earn her trust, bit by bit. Her children are already two tiny suns that he is in deep danger of orbiting. But he senses a spark in her, one that someone tried very hard to stamp out and extinguish. If he can do something to coax it back into a flame, he would be remiss not to try.

He already has too many regrets.

But in order to obtain a daylight ring, he needs a witch, and the closest happens to be his mother. He instantly rejects that idea.

The truth is, he doesn't trust his mother. He wants to, desperately; but the doubts are strong. And this isn't a task he would entrust to someone he doubts.

The next closest witch is Bonnie Bennett, who has little sympathy for his family. She won't do it as a favor to him –and he doubts she'd think much of being paid for it. No, it needs to come from someone else's mouth, someone who can sympathize with Leah and her children as well. Someone who can help, too.

He's lucky he's only a few minutes from Mystic Fall's limited shopping district.

"Miss Forbes, how lovely to see you," he says, smiling at the blond woman placing packages in the trunk of her car.

"Elijah, hey," she says, smiling back in surprise. "Never too early to get the jump on Christmas presents, huh?" She shuts the trunk and adjusts the purse on her arm. "What's up?"

Sometimes this century's flippant and all-too-direct forms of communication exasperate him. But now they work in his favor; he won't have to maneuver around his point. "I was in the neighborhood, visiting a new acquaintance. I wondered if you might be able to help me with something."

She frowns, but says, "What is it?"

"I met a young woman who came to town last night with her two children… she is a vampire, and she was starving for lack of blood."  
"Oh my gosh!" Caroline exclaims, her blue eyes growing round.

"I was able to help her a bit, but she seems to know very little about vampirism. Since you –at least, by my standards," he clarifies, "are still somewhat recently turned, I wondered if you could –"

"Where is she?" Caroline asked, pulling out her phone.

"The motel six a few blocks away. Room 114."

The blond vampire taps the information into her phone with concentration, and Elijah knows he picked the right person. He doesn't even have to mention a ring to her; with Caroline's attention to detail, she'll pick up on it right away. And, while his suspicions are still hazy… he knows Caroline has had to deal with physical opposition from her own father over her vampirism. She can help.

"I'm on it," Caroline says, nodding. "What's her name?"  
"Leah," Elijah says. "Her children are Malachi and Grace."

"Got it," Caroline says. "Thanks for telling me." She smiles. "You want me to let you know how it goes?"

He is floored, absolutely, and he knows she can tell by the way her eyes are sparkling. "If you are so inclined, Miss Forbes."

She laughs, and Elijah finally knows why Klaus is so taken with her. Her heart extends to everyone. He kisses her hand in gratitude, and she giggles.

* * *

Leah lies on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. Grace dozes peacefully curled up against her side. On her other side, Malachi sits against the headboard and reads his book with eyes slightly squinted. He needs glasses.

Running doesn't solve everything.

But three weeks of distance doesn't make you feel safe, either.

She wants stability for her family. She wants safety. The former will be a struggle, and the latter… seems impossible.

But right now, she can stroke her daughter's hair without fear. So maybe anything is possible.

A quiet rap on the door makes her and Malachi sit up. There is a slow heartbeat outside, but she doesn't think that it's Elijah's.

"Mom?"

She gets up and peeks through the peephole. A young woman with a happy, expectant face stands outside the door.

"Get the door but keep the chain on," she says, still wary but now mostly confused. She backs up, and Malachi opens the door as far as it will go.

"Hi!" the girl says to him cheerfully. "My name's Caroline Forbes. Elijah asked me to stop in and talk to Leah. Is that your mom?"

"Yeah," Malachi says, unhooking the chain from the door, like Elijah's name is some kind of secret password. She's going to have a talk with him about that later.

The door swings open fully to reveal the blond girl in a coat and scarf. Her eyes light on Leah and they widen in surprise. "Hi," she says quietly, as though Leah's an animal she's trying not to spook.

Leah guesses that in some ways, she is. "Hi," she says, crossing her arms. This girl's what, seventeen? She's still older than her.

"I ran into Elijah a few minutes ago, and he told me that there's a new vampire in town," the girl says, now a little shy. "And I wanted to know if you needed anything, or, you know…" she trails off as Grace sits up and rubs her eyes.

Leah watches as her daughter scoots to the edge of the bed and drums her heels before waving at the newcomer.

"I babysit, too," Caroline says earnestly. "If you ever need somebody."

"We're not staying in town long," Leah says.

"Why not?" Caroline says. "Mystic Falls is like, supernatural central, it seems like. Everybody comes here," she says with a little laugh.

"I want to stay," Malachi says strongly.

"We have some really great schools, and the seasons are _gorgeous,_ let me tell you. And I grew up here; it's a great small town to raise kids in," she says brightly.

"Why does everyone want me to stay in Mystic Falls?" Leah asks, a little harsher than she meant.

"Well…" Caroline says, knowing she hit a nerve but having no idea where to step to relieve the pressure, "You shouldn't have to be alone, you know? I mean, when I turned I was all alone, and I had no idea what was really going on, and it was really scary, but my friends helped me out and taught me how to do this whole," she waves her hands for emphasis, "vampire thing, and it's like…just way better when you've got people around you to support you, you know?"

Leah chews on her lips as the words echo relentlessly in her ears. She clears her throat and asks the burning question. "What… happened to you, when you…."

"Turned?" Caroline says.

Leah nods, acutely aware of the knot of tension in her stomach.

"You can come in," Malachi says, tired of holding the door.

Caroline looks to Leah for confirmation. Leah nods. The young woman steps through the doorway, and Malachi cuts off the sunlight. Caroline sits on the end of one twin bed, and Leah sits on the other, a distorted mirror image.

Caroline sets her purse down and clasps her hands. "Well… at the time, this vampire turned me to hurt my friends. She's a total bitch," she mumbles. "And I was in the hospital when it happened, so I woke up and had this craving, because I was in transition, you know?"

Leah does.

"And so I feel super hungry, but it's the middle of the night, so the night nurse just told me to go back to sleep. But I see this IV bag full of blood in this other patient's room, and I just…" she shrugs. "I go for it. And one part of me keeps saying, 'Car, that's so gross, cut it out!' But the new side, the vampire part says, 'oh my gosh this is amazing'." She glances at Malachi, who is listening intently. "I did bite one of the nurses," she admits, ashamed. "But I compelled her to forget. Compulsion is pretty great, actually," she says, thinking about it. "And the super strength and speed and everything, too. But yeah, the blood craving is a downside."

She sighs, fiddling with the side of her coat. "I did kill somebody," she whispers. "I didn't mean to, but… I was right out of the hospital and in a crowd of people at a carnival, and none of my friends had realized what had happened yet. But then Stefan –that's my friend Elena's boyfriend –well maybe ex-boyfriend now –but he helped me through it and helped me learn how to feed. I'm on the bunny diet," she says, with a little laugh, "with the occasional blood bag. No people." She shakes her head. "And sometimes it's rough, but this is life now. Sort of." She giggles. "Considering I'm dead." She leans forward, and two compassionate eyes coax Leah. "What about you?"

"It was in a hospital, too," Leah whispers.

Words that she has never spoken, a day that she has never wanted to relive all come tumbling back to her in a rush. "I had Grace four days before, and they hadn't released us yet. Frank was down in the cafeteria, eating. Someone came in the room –held me down. Made me drink blood." She shivers. She still remembers icy hands holding her down and forcing the tacky, coppery liquid down her throat. "Said it was nothing personal. Just business. Then he broke my neck."

Caroline reaches for her hand and squeezes, and the kindhearted touch makes Leah shake worse. Malachi presses up against her side, and she wraps her free hand around him.

"It's okay, Mom," he says. She can't find her voice anymore, so he speaks for her. "He had compelled me not to move," he told Caroline. "So I had to watch and I couldn't scream or anything. And then he told me that she'd wake up, but I had to go steal a blood bag from somewhere and give it to her."

"How old were you?" Caroline whispers, horrified.

"Seven."

Her baby, her precious baby had to watch her die and say nothing. Leah wraps her arms around her son and kisses him. "You were so brave."

"I had to do it. He was making me," Ky points out.

She waves his protests away. "You were brave. You're still brave. And I'm proud of you, Ky."

"Oh my gosh." Caroline's voice breaks on the last word, and she swallows hard.

"And then you woke up and you didn't know what had happened." Ky was speaking just to Leah now. "So I had to tell you."

She brushes Ky's hair off his forehead and nods. The hunger that had run through her had been so –so horribly wrong. She had stared at the blood bag and then at her son and she had thought –she had considered –living blood might just be better than the heavenly smell from the bag. And then revulsion crawled through her. She grabbed the bag out of his hands and told him to stay away from her. She wasn't safe.

Frank found her sucking the bag dry and Malachi watching –horrified, confused–from the corner of the room.

After that, hell was real and nothing mattered anymore.


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: it absolutely kills me that Caroline and Elijah don't actually interact in any scenes on TVD. I want them to be best bros. Thank you so much for all your lovely reviews! :) Onward!**

**Chapter 5**

Elijah picks up on the first ring, and Caroline wastes no time filling him in. "Oh my gosh, you will not be_lieve_ it," she says without preamble.

"You talked to her, then," he says, glancing around his family's new mansion to make sure his mother or any of his siblings are within earshot. He isn't sure what he wants to do with this development, but he will determine the time and place, not one of his far-too-curious siblings.

"Yes! Oh, her kids are _so precious_. But it's so sad, and I only got like the first bit of her story," Caroline continues. "She was turned in a hospital, like me, but she didn't know why –I think to get back at her husband for something, but she wasn't really clear on that. And her son was _in the room_ when the guy broke her neck, and he compelled him so he couldn't do anything!" Her voice was becoming an anguished whisper. "And then he told Malachi to get a blood bag for her to drink and he left. And so she woke up and –she didn't say this, but I think the vampire meant for it to be like that –she had to choose between a blood bag and her son! Thank God she chose the blood bag," Caroline sighs.

He closes his eyes and his whole body stills. That would explain her heightened paranoia about harming her children. And there would be no way to find out who turned her unless she can give a description of the vampire, so he reluctantly files away visions of ripping hearts out of chests for a later time. "She told me she has never had blood since," Elijah says.

"Well obviously she's had to, I mean, she'd be basically a corpse without –"

"She was, last night," Elijah interjects. "She had mine."

"…Oh," Caroline says in a completely different tone of voice. She coughs. "Wow, that's… crazy. So she starved herself?"

"I'm not sure."

"Well, I'm on my way to Bonnie's, to talk her into making Leah a daylight ring. She could use one. And then I'm going to teach her about all the stuff Stefan talked to me about." She sighs a little.

"Thank you, Caroline."

"Hey, it was absolutely no problem at all," Caroline protests. "I've got it all planned out, don't worry."

Elijah smiles. He knew she would. They end the call and Elijah mulls over this new information, turning his phone over and over in his hands.

* * *

"Mom," Malachi says, peeking under the curtain, "Caroline's back, and she's got someone with her."

Leah, busy trying to feed Grace a banana that she isn't interested in, doesn't respond right away. "Okay," she finally replies, wiping away squished banana from her daughter's face.

Malachi takes that for assent and opens the door to Caroline and a girl about the same age –but human. Her heart patters quickly. She's nervous.

Leah wipes her hands and stands up. Grace has evidently had enough of potassium for one day, so she finishes the banana herself. "Hello," she says, wiping her fingers surreptitiously on a washcloth.

"Leah, this is my friend Bonnie," Caroline says. "She's a witch. I thought that –if you wanted –we could make you a daylight ring. So you can go outside." She smiles hopefully.

It sounds like Caroline's speaking a foreign language. _Sunshine. Freedom. _"Why?" Leah asks, and Caroline's smile falters. "Why are you doing this for me?"

"Because everybody should have the chance to walk in the sunlight," Caroline says quietly. "No one should go through all of this alone."

Something inside her breaks. She has been alone for almost five years.

"Hey, don't cry, it's okay!" Caroline exclaims, stepping in and putting an arm around her as tears trickle down Leah's face.

"No, I'm happy," she insists as the tears pour. "I'm happy!" She laughs through the pain of five years sliding off her face. Malachi wraps his arms around her waist, and Grace reaches up. As Leah picks her up, she can see Bonnie surreptitiously wiping away a tear, too.

"Sometimes the best thing you can do is have a good cry with friends," Caroline says, eyes filling.

Leah focuses on the feeling of arms around her and smiles surrounding her. Friends. She has a friend, for no reason other than Elijah mentioned her to this girl and Caroline decided to open her compassionate heart to include her. She hands Grace down to Malachi and hugs Caroline with nearly all her strength –she can take it, and Leah knows, in some way, she will understand it.

Caroline laughs and sniffs and hugs her back just as tightly.

"Thank you so much," Leah whispers brokenly in her ear.

"It is my _genuine_ pleasure," Caroline says, releasing her and taking her hands. "Okay?" She swipes at her eyes. "So. Let's make you a ring, huh? Do you have any you want to use?"

Leah feels Caroline's gaze pass by the small diamond on her ring finger, and something rises up in her for the first time, something hard and strong and fierce. "No," she says, and takes off the ring. "I don't want this anymore, so I'm definitely not going to use it." She'll keep it for Grace one day, maybe. She puts it in her jeans pocket and thinks.

"Does it need anything special on it?" she finally says, after rummaging through her bags. She didn't take a whole lot of jewelry with her, but she has one or two things that might do.

"If you've got anything lapis lazuli, that would be best. And you're going to be wearing it for a long time," Bonnie says, putting in her two cents for the first time. "So something you like, something that will go with a lot of things…"

"I haven't got anything lapis lazuli," she says, "But I could make something, if you've got a stone."

"Really?" Caroline says.

Bonnie fishes in her purse, and pulls out a ring box with a few rings in it. "Go for it," she says. "We fished through the Salvatore's rings for the best, but they're all huge."  
"And _ugly_," Caroline puts in.

Leah hovers over the undeniably massive rings before plucking one from the bunch. "May I?"

Both girls shrug, interested.

Leah hunts in her bag for her jewelry wire, thinking. The stone is mostly flat and has the most gold veins running through it. She has an idea, but no tools… but maybe she doesn't need them.

She pops the stone from its setting and sets to work. Moving too fast to see, her hands rub and shape the wire, looping and wrapping, twisting it around the stone and holding it in place. Her end result captures the stone in a delicate net of silver, the gold bright among the blue. She slips it on her hand to test the size, but knows that it will fit.

"That was amazing," Caroline whispers reverently. "How did you do that?"

"I make jewelry," she says, inspecting her handiwork with a critical eye.

"_Really_?" Caroline's eyes almost fall out of her head. "Because I would like, _so_ buy anything and everything you make, no joke."

Leah laughs.

"She's completely serious," Bonnie admits. "Are you finished?" Leah nods, and Bonnie takes her hand, murmuring words in Latin that she doesn't understand. It only takes a minute.

"That's it?" Malachi asks, frowning. "That was so easy." It should be much harder to escape the dark, sunless days that stretched on for five years.

"Time to test it!" Caroline exclaims, going to the door and opening it.

Leah looks from the ring on her middle finger of her left hand and then to the strip of sunshine. Some part of her urges, _step into the light._

And she listens.

The sun is warm and bright and good, and she doesn't know how she lived without it for so long. The tears begin again, but she doesn't care. She collapses in a heap with her shrieking, dancing children and cries for joy.


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: guys I'm SO sorry, I haven't been home all day. Hope you enjoy! **

**Chapter 6**

The sun's lure is too great to venture back inside for the rest of the day. Malachi drags her all over town, pointing out the places he saw on his laundry outing with Grace. All the excitement and euphoria tires her children out, and the early sleet storm that blows in during the night prevents their departure. She doesn't know how to drive on ice, and she's not risking her children's lives.

So they stay in Mystic Falls another day.

No sound announces the presence outside the motel door, but she knows someone is there seconds before the knock. She opens the door –she hasn't opened a door during the day in years –and the morning sun highlights Elijah's profile.

"Good morning," he says with a smile. He is wearing a coat over his suit, but he still manages to look utterly put-together.

"Good morning," she replies, confused as to why he's here, but the phrase carries such joy for her that she can't stop a small smile in return.

He must read her uncertainty on her face, because he explains himself with rapidity. "Caroline wanted to teach you how to hunt and manage the blood cravings, but she is dealing with an unexpected family crisis at the moment. I volunteered to take her place."

Apprehension crawls through Leah, thinking about blood. Caroline had mentioned helping her "deal with all this stuff," as she put it, but Leah felt very cagey about _learning_ how to drink blood. But saying no, when it seems like everyone just wants to help, would be rude.

"Um… okay. Right now?"

"If it is convenient."

Leah glances over her shoulder to where Malachi and Grace sit on their bed, absorbed in whatever cartoon is on the TV. "They should probably stay here," Elijah says quietly.

She agrees very definitely. This isn't something that she wants her children watching. "Okay, let me get my sweater." The bulky wool slides over her head and envelops her in a cocoon. "Ky, you're in charge," Leah says, though she had secretly hoped she'd never have to say those words again. "I'll be back soon."

"Okay," Malachi says with a smile. "Hi Elijah."

"Hello, Ky."

The amused grin on Elijah's face remains even after Leah shuts the motel room door behind her. She thinks it might have something to do with the way her eyes grow wide, still unused to the novelty of sun on her face and on the patches of clear ice that dot the parking lot and neighboring rooftops. "Are you enjoying your ring?" he asks.

"Yes," she says, looking at it again for the umpteenth time. "Very much." Who knew that a tiny piece of metal and stone would save her from a fiery death?

"It's lovely, and very unique," he says.

"I made it," she says, with just a touch of pride.

* * *

"Really?" Elijah asks, inspecting her ring with new interest. "May I?" He holds out a hand.

She holds out her hand wordlessly, and he takes it, admiring the way the gold plays through the blue of the lapis lazuli and the slim silver wire. "The silver makes the gold in the stone stand out well," he says. "You're very talented."

"Thank you," she says, and Elijah notices a rosy blush creeping up through her skin.

He lets go of her hand, and the memory of calluses blending with soft skin lingers on his hand. "How long have you been making jewelry?"

"I started when Ky was a baby," she says, putting her hands in her pockets. "Just as a hobby. Later…" she falters slightly, but sets her shoulders, "doing something with my hands helped my mind focus on something else. That's probably how I stayed sane. My sister would take what I made and sell it for me."

"And where is she now?" Elijah asks, looking ahead towards the end of the town's buildings.

"Community college," Leah says shortly.

"You must miss her." He feels her glance, can see her from the corner of his eye, but doesn't turn.

"I do," she admits, finally. "But I had resigned myself to it. I thought I'd never get to see her again." What she doesn't say –_maybe now I can_ –floats in the silence that sits comfortably between them, a trickle of hope in a barren wasteland of brokenness.

They have come to the end of the buildings, and no one is on the street. "Training starts now," he says, focusing on the task ahead.

"What are we going to do?" Leah asks warily.

"First, we run. Follow me." He smiles and blurs through the open land into the forest.

* * *

She has never been able to run like this before. It's exhilarating, and yet slightly terrifying at the same time. Does her brain process faster to compensate for the speed? She manages not to run into any trees as she follows Elijah's blurred form through the forest, and she counts herself a success.

They come to a stop in a small clearing, and Leah can feel her muscles hum with energy. Then her stomach growls, and the all-too-familiar yearning for blood begins to whisper to her. Manageable. She can push it away; ignore it if she has to. Leah takes a deep breath.

"You're hungry now." It's not a question.

She nods shortly, pulling her shoulders in to herself.

"You're a vampire, and you need blood," Elijah says, point blank. "You will crave it if you don't have it, and you will be tempted to feed off of anyone handy. You know that."  
Leah nods again. She knows all too well.

"If you feed regularly, your cravings will stay on a reasonable level. Once you do that –much like normal eating –you can ignore the need to feed when confronted by crowds of humans."

"Okay," she says, with a significant amount of reluctance.

"You have amazing self control, Leah," Elijah says, and she doesn't know what to do with this unexpected praise. "Self-control is half the battle. You have refused to let your desire master you."

"It was that or do the unthinkable," she whispers.

"Which many people would do and have done."

She stares at him, wide-eyed.

"When my family first became vampires, we had no clue what the consequences would be. We craved blood." He purses his lips, eyes far away. "We acted on our newfound instincts and did not stop to think. And I will always carry my regret."

_What do you say to heal that kind of wound_, Leah wonders. His eyes return to the present, and meet hers. For a second, she loses herself in the dark brown eyes that have seen so much, and yet still feel as keenly as she does.

"It's a choice, you know," he continues. Their gaze is still locked.

"What is?"

"Caring. As a vampire, everything is heightened. Senses, emotions… for some, it's too much. They turn their emotions off."

"No," she blurts. "I can't do that!"

"I wasn't advocating it. Quite the opposite."

Her sigh is silent, but he notices. Leah thinks he might notice everything.

"Caring will pull you back, if you ever decide to feed directly from the source."

"You mean people." Her tone carries unintentional accusation.

"Yes," he says, seemingly unfazed by her words. "But I thought it best to start with something a little simpler."

That, as it turns out, means rabbits. Apparently the woods have become a breeding ground for unwanted pets dumped out by their owners as well as the indigenous species, and the rabbits are doing fantastically well at multiplying.

"Listen for a heartbeat, and let your instinct guide you," Elijah says.

"I don't think I can do this," Leah says faintly. Grace sleeps with a stuffed bunny. She doesn't really relish the thought of killing something that her daughter has tea parties with.

"You can," Elijah says.

"No, I really don't think I can," she says, wrapping her arms around herself tightly. If she lets go of her control… what will she do? What will she become?

"You have the option of blood bags," Elijah says. "Steal several from the hospital each week and keep your craving at bay that way."

"But people need those!" she exclaims, turning to face him.

He is smiling. "Yes, they do. And so do you."

"I can't –"

"Blood bags or rabbits, Leah," he says softly, becoming serious. "You need one or the other, if live humans are not an option."

"They aren't," she says firmly. At least they can agree on that.

"Well?" He waits expectantly, watching her.

She doesn't look at him. "I am afraid of what I'll do," she states very quietly.

"You are not a berserker, Leah, I can promise you that. And I'll be right here with you. Trust me."

He doesn't know what he is asking of her –but maybe he does. Trust is hard, dangerous even… but this is for Malachi and Grace. She has to try, for them.

She steels herself and closes her eyes, listening for a rapid animal heartbeat. She hears several, but they are all in trees –squirrels. A few moments go by, in which she can hear the sound of her very slow heartbeat sync with the slow, steady rhythm of Elijah's. Then –there!

She runs through the trees, impossibly fast and sure, following the sound. The rabbit tries to escape, but she grabs it, holds it tightly. It can't fight against her grasp. _I'm strong,_ she remembers. _I'm a vampire._

Elijah stands at her elbow, waiting for her to –what, bite the rabbit?

She can feel the rabbit's heart beating a frantic crescendo under her hands, pumping blood that she needs. Blood that she wants. Pressure builds up in her face, but she clenches her jaw, forcing it back, locking it away. _I may need blood, but I don't have to do that,_ she thinks. _Be that._

She wrings its neck like one would a chicken, and just like that, the heart stops. Now what?

"Now you drink," Elijah says, and she jumps. She didn't know she had spoken aloud.

Yes, drink, but how? There is a lot of fur on this thing. Leah finally holds the corpse away from herself and tears at the fur around the neck. Blood splatters, but only on the grass. Dutifully, she sucks and drinks, wrinkling her nose at the odd taste.

Elijah stares her down until she drinks the rabbit dry, and then she can finally put it down and spit the fur out of her mouth.

"That… was not very good," she says, taking the handkerchief he offers her.

"Vampires crave _human_ blood," he clarifies. "Animal blood is a poor substitute, but it will suffice under some circumstances."

"Is that it?" Leah asks.

"No," he says, smiling fainly. "You need to find two more before I'm satisfied that you can do this on your own."

She realizes that she's making a horrible face, but she doesn't much care. Elijah laughs at her expression, and the sound sets a butterfly loose in her stomach. "Off you go," he says, taking his handkerchief back.

* * *

He follows Leah as she sets off in search of her second rabbit, secretly proud of her refusal to feed on humans. At least one member of their race is starting out the right way.

After the second rabbit lies bloodless on the ground, while Leah is wiping her mouth with his bloody handkerchief, he notices what's missing again. Her eyes do not turn red, her fangs do not appear, and black veins do not branch out from under her eyes.

He is highly perplexed, but thinks he is glad. They not fit her character, and would do a disservice to this beautiful woman.

_Is_ Leah beautiful? He takes in her long blond hair, almost to her waist, and her green eyes that look as fragile as glass, and her baggy sweaters that she wears like armor. The love in her to protect her children, the way her face lights up when she's around them, how her arms encircle them so gently and tightly.

Yes, she is.

* * *

Three rabbits down, and they are back at the motel. Elijah bids her a polite good day.

While the experience was disagreeable, it was necessary, and he didn't have to go out of his way to help her. "Thank you," she says, trying to put everything into the words. "You're a good teacher, even if I'm not the best student."

"You flatter me," he says with a smile, and she smiles back.

"Well, it's true."

"Not all of it. You did very well today. You're going to be just fine, Leah."

"I couldn't have been if you hadn't helped me," she says firmly. "I –"

Whatever she had planned to say –tried to voice –she loses as Malachi opens the door behind her. "Mom!" he exclaims, hugging her. "How was it?"

"Kind of difficult, but okay," she says honestly, hugging him back.

"You don't have to worry about your mother anymore, Malachi," Elijah says behind them. Malachi looks up at him. "She is fully capable of living as a vampire." He takes his leave with decorum and aplomb.

"So… we don't have to run anymore?" Malachi says hopefully.

She sighs as all the other worries come back to her. "Ky…"

"Mom, you can walk in the sunlight now. And you're strong!" he says, gripping her hands. "We don't have to be scared anymore! He can't hurt us!"

"He can hurt you –"

"I don't care!" Malachi exclaims, eyes flashing. "I don't care about him, he's a liar! He can't do anything to us anymore!"

She feels the tension slide off her back as the truth finds a home in her heart. He _can't_ hurt them anymore. She is strong enough to protect her family. Whether or not she's strong enough to protect her heart is a different matter, but family comes first. Her children have priority over everything.

"Can we stay, Mom? Can we stay?" Malachi whispers in her ear.

She is standing in the light, and she is unafraid. "Yes," she whispers. "We can stay."


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: guys seeing your reviews makes my day. I'm so happy that other people like my story just as much as I do.  
**

**Just a couple notes: there's a nod to the rest of the MF gang in here, but they're probably not going to figure in very much to the events of the story, just because they're not the focus and I don't want to get character heavy. And you may be guessing about a lot of things, but just be patient. Things are revealed, but they're revealed slowly. We're just on chapter seven :D And in case anybody hasn't guessed, Leah looks like Emily Bett Rickards -she's on the little cover picture thingy :) Hope you enjoy!**

**Chapter 7**

The tiny house isn't much, but it will do. The linoleum looks like it's from the seventies, and the carpet isn't much better, but it's got three bedrooms for them all and a beautiful bay window, and it can be –_will_ be –home.

The real estate agent signs the lease, and Malachi puts down his name. A few eyebrows are raised, but no questions are asked. No supernatural visitors (most, anyway) will be able to enter without Malachi's permission, and he has always been a good judge of character. She can pay for it –she has funds from her jewelry that Frank had no access to, though it takes almost all of it to buy the little house –and she can fix what needs fixing later (the leaky faucets, the hole in the back porch).

It's a good little place, full of light. They'll sleep on mattresses and eat off a card table until her jewelry business gets going, which Caroline has promised to help with, but that's all right. There are no ghosts here, no dark basement, and no awful memories.

She stands on the green kitchen linoleum and looks out the window to the front yard. They're at the end of a street, right at the dead end –plenty of playing room for Malachi and Grace, plenty of warning for anyone coming to call. The almost-dead things in front look like rose bushes. Leah wonders if she can coax them back from the brink, pay the favor forward.

It's amazing what can happen in such a short time.

Caroline's car pulls up in the driveway, and she hops out, smiling and holding bags. "I come bearing gifts!" she exclaims as Leah holds the door open for her. "Quilts, sheets, towels –jackpot! The Presbyterian Church down Main Street was having a rummage sale." Leah holds the door open for her, and Caroline comes into the living room, which is completely bare except for a wood-burning stove in the corner (ancient much?) and some of Grace's dolls and Malachi's Legos scattered around. Caroline sets the bags down and grins. "There are even some super cute kids comforters I found!" She pulls out Dora and superhero comforters and displays them proudly.

This is the third time Caroline has done this, and Leah has come to terms with it. She doesn't want charity, and something in her rebels at the fact that she can't provide for her children fully yet. But she knows that Caroline doesn't view her as a charity case, she views her as a _friend_ –and in this town, as she has figured out, friends are good things to have.

She met Elena Gilbert and the Salvatore brothers the day before –Caroline brought them over to make sure they knew whom she was, and she knew whom they were. Something about Elena makes her a target for the supernatural community, but they didn't go into detail, for which Leah was grateful –she has enough worries. Upon meeting the three of them, Leah's immediate thought was, _that poor girl_. She looked like she was being pulled between the two brothers like a rope in a tug of war –probably inadvertently, but still stretched thin –and if Leah could tell, then it must be obvious to everyone.

"Do you like them?" Caroline asks, pulling Leah out of her thoughts.

"They're great, Car. Thanks so much for thinking of us," Leah says, opening her arms to give the younger girl a hug. Caroline has her own kind of brokenness –she just lost her father –and Leah offers her the only cure she knows.

Caroline returns the hug happily. "Have you made any progress?" she asks, speaking of the jewelry.

Leah motions towards the kitchen, where the card table brims with silver and gold wire with a smattering of plastic beads.

Caroline pokes her head in the door and gasps. "Oh my gosh, Leah, this is awesome!" she picks up a wire bracelet and whistles. "I can't believe how great they are!"

"Thanks," Leah says, smiling and allowing herself the swell of pride. She has ideas for more complex, weird, fantastic pieces of jewelry –but right now she needs pretty, attractive, functional ones to sell. She files the ideas away for later, when she's got cash left over from paying the electric bill and can experiment to her heart's delight.

The pot of green beans on the stove starts to hiss, and she remembers _oh yes, I was making dinner._ Lifting the pot off of the stove, she says, "Could you help me move the jewelry to another surface?"

"Totally." Caroline deposits necklaces, earrings, bracelets and rings onto a corner of the counter that's unoccupied.

The chicken casserole in the oven should be done in about five minutes, and she's got dinner rolls, too. "Do you want to stay for supper?" Leah investigates to see if she's got the correct number of dishes. The house had come with cabinets full of things that the old owners had just left –thank the Lord for small miracles. She had forgotten just how many dishes and pots and pans one needed to cook even something simple.

"If it's not any trouble…"

"No trouble," Leah says firmly. Yes, she does have four of everything. "Do you want to set the table?"

"Sure." Caroline takes the plates and silverware from her and arranges them around the card table. "Where are Ky and Grace?"

"Backyard, investigating." Leah can hear them from here –from the squeals, she thinks they are investigating a bug.

"I'll go tell them to wash up." The blond dusts her hands. "And then I'll do the same."

"Thanks." They share a smile before Caroline heads to the back door.

She doesn't have hot pads yet, so she uses one of the new towels Caroline bought to take the casserole out of the oven. It smells done, a good sign. She'll dish it up from the counter; best not to test how much weight the card table can take just yet.

"We have a bunch of worms in the backyard, Mom," Malachi says, walking through the kitchen in his socks and turning on the sink tap.

So it had been a worm and not a bug. "That's usually where you find them. Good job not walking through the house with dirty shoes."

"Caroline told us to take 'em off," Malachi explains. "She's helping Grace."

"Could you get the folding chairs, please?"

Ky obediently pulls four folding chairs out of the hall closet that doesn't hold anything else but their coats and arranges them around the card table. Caroline carries Grace in and washes her hands at the sink. Grace giggles and plays with the soap.

Leah wonders if maybe they baby Grace too much, but then she remembers everything her daughter has had to live through in four and a half years, and decides that if anyone deserves babying, it's Grace. Rather, it's her whole family.

They sit around the table and hold hands while Leah gives thanks. One broken piece at a time, they will discover how to reform their family –but it's important to always leave space for the others who are broken, too, Leah reminds herself as Caroline's hand squeezes hers tightly.

* * *

As she dishes out the green beans onto Grace's plate, Leah tells her children and Caroline the secret that she has carried around for three days. She wrote the letter and sent it off, but it hasn't seemed real. She needs it to be real, and so she releases her secret from its silence.

"I wrote to Fay a few days ago –my sister," she says, tongue trembling on the last word. The conversation she had had with Elijah in the woods started her thinking, and she figured that since Fay was at college, there was no way Frank could find the letter before it got to her. Someone can know that she is all right.

"Really?" Malachi exclaims, his face lighting up.

"Yeah," Leah admits with a smile. "Hopefully, we should hear back in a few more days." She gave the town name –it was small enough that she could check at the post office and see if there were any letters waiting for her without putting her new address.

"I didn't know you had a sister!" Caroline leans forward with interest. "How old is she?"

"She's…nineteen now? No, twenty," Leah says, doing the math again. "She's in community college back …where we started from."

"So she was about fifteen when you turned?" Caroline puts a forkful of casserole in her mouth. "Wow, this is amazing."

Grace pinches her fingers together and shows them to Caroline.

"She says don't talk with your mouth full," Ky translates.

Giggling, Caroline chews and swallows. "Sorry sweetie! I forget little kid rules," she whispers to Leah.

"Sometimes I do too," Leah says wryly. "Yes, she was fifteen."

"So…how old was she when you had Ky?" Caroline asks, frowning. "Come to think of it, how old are you now?"

Leah laughs at Caroline's scrutinizing gaze. "I'm twenty-seven. I'm perpetually stuck at twenty-three, I guess. I had Ky when I was sixteen, and Fay was eight. She's my half-sister."

Caroline sighs. "Oh boy, another confusing family. And it just gets worse when someone is stuck at one age," she says, moving her green beans around on her plate.

"Another one of those little kid rules is 'don't play with your food'," Leah says sweetly.

Caroline looks up, surprised, but finds the mirth in Leah's eyes and they both giggle.

"So… and I mean, if this is way too personal, feel free to stop me –everyone says I've got no filter –but did Ky come before or after the ring?" Caroline says, after they both get a hold of themselves and eat a couple more bites of casserole.

"I got the ring after," Leah says, keeping it G-rated for her children's sake.

"Gotcha." Caroline nods decisively.

"We all do stupid things," Leah says, speaking of her marriage. At the time, it had seemed the logical step to take –a child should ideally have two parents, so why not marry? Hindsight, however, is always the best sight. She probably never should have gotten involved with Frank in the first place –but she doesn't regret Ky, never Ky, and then she would have never had Grace, so… whose fault is it, really?

Fay, her blunt, deal-with-everything-head-on sister, had asked her (pressed her, battered her) to find out if she blamed the vampire who turned her for what followed. Fay's type of emotional therapy.

She doesn't. She blames him for turning her, period. Everything else that followed –that was all Frank.

You never really know a person until you drop a proverbial anvil on their foot and watch their reaction.

"Talk about stupid," Caroline says, wiping her mouth with a napkin, "I let Nathan Burchett kiss me in seventh grade and he blabbed to all his friends. And he was _not_ cute," she adds.

And because it's Caroline, perfectly serious and making the best 'BLEGH' face, Leah nearly dies from laughter.


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: just a warning, because I don't want to shock anybody, Fay doesn't really have a filter. She doesn't say anything really bad, I just wanted to let y'all know if you're sensitive. But Fay is really fun to write :) And she becomes important later. In case you care, she looks like the singer Lorde, but with a bit of Willa Holland smooshed in here and there. I don't know how else to describe it :) Enjoy!**

**Chapter 8**

It becomes nervous habit. Every time Leah drives into town, she must check the post office to see if a letter has come from Fay yet. She hasn't seen her since the last time Fay snuck over while Frank was away, and that was… she double checks her math. Five months ago.

She's probably almost done with the fall semester of her sophomore year, since it just hit November. She's probably taking tests and writing papers and doing silly things with friends.

Maybe, once they're on their feet and they've got cash to spare, Leah can actually finish her degree that she tried to work on in between babies.

It hits her in the middle of the night, sometimes, after she checks on Grace to make sure she's just a restless sleeper and not having a nightmare. Most of the time it's nothing, but they're all plagued with bad dreams once in a while.

On the way back to her mattress (she's not that worried about a bedframe yet) she realizes that she is going to have forever, and the time it takes to get her degree doesn't really matter. If she makes enough money, she could get two degrees if she wanted. She and Ky and Grace could all do college together.

_What a weird, creepy thought_, she decides as she curls back into a ball under her quilts. That particular idea gets a very resounding NOPE, but the premise still stands. She has endless possibilities.

Possibilities scare Leah, so she goes back to sleep and focuses on right here, right now, making jewelry so she can actually buy food to feed her children.

The jewelry business is actually going incredibly well, so much better than she initially expected. Caroline took her into town and introduced her to one of the owners of the boutique _Beads and Braids_. They agreed to sell her jewelry for her, and the popularity soared (Leah suspected Caroline had something to do with it). The other shops around Mystic Falls all wanted to sell her jewelry, too, and she made a lot of money from the shop competition.

It's so odd to see her creations hanging from people's ears and wrists when she walks into town now. Leah focuses on creating new designs and hopes that this won't just be a short-time fad.

She has just hunted her three rabbits for today –still furry, still unappetizing, but keeping her craving at bay –and she compulsively stops by the post office again. The woman at the front knows her face well enough by now to shake her head as soon as Leah pokes her head in the door.

With a sigh, she lets the door close as the bell jingles dismally. Well, while she's in town, she might as well pick up a few things. Her children guzzle milk with a startling rapidity. She walks to the grocery store and grabs a cart, heading towards the milk aisle.

When Grace was born, she had four days to breastfeed before the vampire turned Leah. Then all her milk dried up. At the time, it had absolutely killed her that she couldn't feed her baby.

Leah puts a gallon of milk in the cart. It was probably better that way, in the long run, she reflects, heading towards the canned vegetables. Life as an eternally lactating vampire would get old really fast.

_Eternally lactating vampire. _She giggles as she tosses cans of green beans into the cart, getting a few odd looks.

_Green beans are hilarious, what are you talking about,_ she thinks, still smiling, as she exits the aisle.

The checkout line isn't too long, and Leah walks out of the store with three bags of groceries and sighs into the cold November air. It's Saturday, and Caroline had graciously agreed to watch Malachi and Grace while she hunted, so she'd better get back before they worry about her. Resisting the urge to check the post office one more time, Leah sets out down the sidewalk at a brisk pace. The walk is definitely doable –Mystic Falls proper isn't _that_ big –though if she was human, she'd be huffing and puffing by the time she got home.

Leah is crossing her third intersection when she hears a truck's brakes squeal and screech. She turns, but before she can do anything a figure with a mane of brown curly hair is leaping out of an ugly orange pickup's cab and hurtling towards her. She manages to drop her bags before this person throws herself into her arms.

Tears streak both faces and for a long time there's nothing but wordless gasps and sobbing.

"Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God," her sister says over and over. "I thought he had finally done it, I thought he had killed you! Oh my God!"

"Fay," Leah whispers, holding her younger sister tight as her body shudders in a release from grief.

A deep breath, a few swipes at eyes, and Fay is grinning up at her from her five foot four height. Her hair is a bushy mess, like always, but she's got eyeliner and mascara on –that's new. Leah cups her face and takes her in.

"So," Fay asks, smile large and eyes sparkling, "Where's this new place you've got? I picked up a few things for you."

Only then does Leah note that the truck bed is completely full of furniture, and it's pulling a trailer as well.

She can_ feel_ her jaw sagging.

Fay cackles, digging her elbow into Leah's side. "I raided your house and stole back your stuff," she says, insufferably smug.

* * *

Malachi and Grace are playing in the front yard with Caroline, so they see Fay's truck pull up. Ky, with keen intuition, runs forward, and Fay leaps out to throw her arms around him. She has, thankfully, thrown the truck into park beforehand. Leah turns the engine off, pulls her grocery bags out of the car, and walks up the sidewalk. The smile on her face feels like it will never go away.

"Aunt Fay! Aunt Fay!" Malachi says over and over again. Grace hops up and down, and Fay sweeps her up and spins her around, making her shriek in her little-girl octaves.

"How are my favorite niece and nephew?" Fay exclaims, setting Grace down and plopping down in the grass. Grace and Malachi promptly climb all over her, giggling.

"We were worried that you hadn't gotten Mom's letter!" Ky says, and Fay grins, but there is a hard edge to her smile. She bares too many teeth.

"Well, kiddo, I got the letter and then tossed all of your stuff into my truck and hauled ass up here! I figured showing up in person was better than a note in the mail," Fay says, ticking feet and tummies.

"Fay, little pitchers have big ears," Leah says.

Caroline walks over, dusting her hands on her jeans, interested but keeping a respectful distance.

"Whoops," Fay says. "My bad, Leah." She grins up at her through a curtain of curly hair.

"Caroline, this is my sister Fay. I told you about her. Fay, this is Caroline. She's helped me out a ton, and we love her a lot."

Caroline's cheeks flush red, but she is happy. "Aww, thanks," she mumbles, "but that's what girl vampire friends are for, right?"

Spontaneously, Leah reaches out and hugs Caroline from the side. "You are a lovely girl with a big heart," she whispers. She receives a wordless squeeze in return.

"Hey," Fay says, getting up and dusting herself off as best she can with two children hanging off of her. She holds out a hand, and Caroline shakes it. "So, what's the deal with this town being supernatural central?"

"Yeeeahhh, that's complicated," Caroline says, laughing awkwardly. "Lots of history, you know?"

"Ugh, I hate history," Fay says, swinging Grace up onto her hip. "Forget I asked."

"Well, I'd better get going," Caroline says, pulling her car keys out of her pocket. "I promised my mom we'd have family dinner tonight –AKA, I'm cooking. It's nice to meet you, Fay."

"You, too," Fay says.

"Bye, Leah!"

"Thanks for watching Ky and Grace." Leah waves as Caroline's car pulls away from the curb.

"So you've already made friends with the night life, huh?" Fay says, raising her eyebrows.

"If you're talking about vampires, no, not really," Leah says. "Just Caroline and Elijah. Do you want to unload all this stuff now?"

"You gotta show me your new place first!" Fay sets Grace down and takes her hand. "Show me your room, Gracie!"

As their family walks up the steps and through the front door, Fay asks, "Who's Elijah?"

"He helped me when I first came into town."

Fay's eyes glow with interest. "Do tell." Her voice drips with intrigue.

Leah rolls her eyes. "I'll tell you the whole story, but one thing at a time, Fay." Her sister's headlong rush into the unknown tires her out, even now.

* * *

After the tour, they spend the rest of the day moving in furniture and boxes of belongings and books that Leah thought she would never see again. Leah traces the scuffs and scars on the wooden tables and bedframes with wonder, forgotten memories slotting into the grooves in the wood. The coffee table from her mother's estate that she had scuffed up by tap dancing on at age five, the kitchen table with the sizable ding in it from trying to move it into her home as a newlywed and overestimating the size of the door frame, the scarred bookshelf that she had painted purple during her pregnancy with Grace –they all made this little house home.

"How did you get all this?" Leah asks as she carries in the bedframes by herself, Fay following with a box of books, huffing and puffing.

"I had your house key –Frank was still in the hospital –I paid this guy I know to help me load up my truck," her sister explains, dumping the box in the middle of the living room and sitting on it with a sigh.

Leah turns in the middle of the hallway to stare at Fay.

"What?" Fay says, flipping her curls over her shoulder and shrugging. "It's not _theft,_ Leah, it was your stuff anyway –"

"No, not –not that…." Leah swallows. "So Frank isn't dead?"

"No, the bastard's still alive and kicking," Fay says, making a face and rubbing her hands against her black skinny jeans. She freezes after a moment. "Wait, you thought he was dead?"

"I didn't know," Leah says. "I called 911 and threw us all in the car and left. What happened, Fay?"

"He's got a couple of broken bones and a concussion." Fay shrugs. "I didn't listen real hard when Dad told me because I didn't give a shi–"

"_Fay_."

"Sorry. I like my Anglo-Saxon." She smiles crookedly. "What made you finally leave him, anyway?"

Leah turns around, continuing down the hallway. The words float back of their own accord. "He hit Ky."

"So you punched him through the kitchen window. Good job, sis." In anyone else's mouth, the words would be sarcastic, but Fay is perfectly genuine in her pride.

"Come help me put the bed frames together; you're the one who took them apart."

Fay groans, but levers herself up off the box. "Only if you promise to spill about your story."

"Deal."

They move furniture and assemble bed frames and make the beds, and Leah assembles the fragments of the last month comprised of long stressful nights and days fraught with worry, all until the night they finally stopped in Mystic Falls.

"He _what_?" Fay's face is contorting in some very odd ways; she's equal parts disgusted and fascinated.

"You definitely heard me," Leah mumbles, burying her nose in her mug of tea. They are taking a much-needed physical break for Fay and emotional break for Leah, but it's not turning into the respite she imagined.

Fay mulls her story over. "That's like… sort of hot. Damn." Fay gulps absently at her coffee and winces.

The little pitchers are thankfully in the living room, so Leah decides not to chastise. "You are thinking far too deeply about this." She props her elbows on her old-new kitchen table and sighs.

"What does he look like? Is he fit?"

"Fay!"

"I'm just _asking_," her sister says innocently. "Describe him."

Leah searches for words that could describe Elijah and fails. Fay loses patience.

"Hair color?"

"Brown."

"Eye color?"

"Same."

"How tall?"

"Taller than me."

"Honestly, Leah, I'm rolling my eyes _so hard_," Fay drones. "_De_tails."

"He's… a gentleman. He wears suits…" Come to think of it, she's never seen him wear anything else. "He told Caroline about me. He walked Ky and Grace back to the motel room. He saved my life when he didn't have to help me, and he taught me how to hunt. He's a good man, Fay."

"… A good _hot_ man?"

"Fay!"


	9. Chapter 9

**AN: *smirks* you're welcome :) I love all of you for reviewing, it makes my day! Give yourself a gold star.**

**Chapter 9**

Kol and Rebekah sound like they're having a spat –again. Elijah looks up from his book in the library and listens cautiously.

"And what is _that_?"

"It's a dress, Kol!"

"Are you sure? It looks like you bought a blouse in the wrong size, Bekah –"

"It's the _style!_" Rebekah yells, stamping a foot.

Kol does it to needle her –he's always been remarkably good at it –but Rebekah is more easily wounded than she leads Kol to believe.

Elijah puts his book down and goes downstairs. Klaus is out who-knows-where, and Finn and his mother are …actually, he can't hear them anywhere. Elijah pauses on the landing, listening again.

No sound.

_Strange,_ he thinks, the niggling sensation of doubt growing bigger. He hates himself for it.

"Stop implying that I'm a whore!" A hidden wail lurks beneath Rebekah's anger.

"Kol," Elijah says, walking through the living room and in between his two youngest siblings, "you've obviously missed a few things in the last hundred years. What Rebekah is wearing is perfectly modest by today's standards." It's a dress that ends a few inches above the knee, and while the last things Kol saw women in were floor-length skirts, Elijah knows that he has caught up, relatively speaking, to the times. He just likes to annoy.

"_See_?" Rebekah crosses her arms before turning towards Elijah. "He's been like this all afternoon."

"Maybe you should pace yourself, Kol. Limit yourself to only a few irritating comments per day."

"Where's the fun in that?" Kol grins and collapses onto the couch.

"Kol, don't tease your sister," Esther orders, walking down the stairs after Finn.

Kol's mouth flattens out into a line.

Elijah frowns slightly at their sudden appearance.

"I've had a lovely idea," Esther says, wading into the middle of her children's spat. She clasps her hands and smiles. "I thought that we could host a party to celebrate our family being back together, and meet the neighbors at the same time."

"A party?" Kol says, raising a dubious eyebrow.

"Yes, Kol, you'd actually have to talk and be nice." Rebekah shoots him a glare.

"I can be nice." Kol's grin is razor sharp.

"What kind of party, Mother?" Elijah says, before they start bickering again.

Esther beams. "What about a ball?"

"It sounds…" _completely out of character for this family_… "like a wonderful idea," he finishes. "When?"

"In a few days."

"That's going to take some planning," Elijah points out.

"I could help plan it, Mother," Rebekah offers. She is toying with her bracelet. His baby sister is desperate for affection from someone, anyone –but it would not come amiss from the mother they all thought dead for a thousand years.

"That would be lovely, thank you Rebekah," Esther says, smiling. "You could help me come up with a guest list. Now, the rest of you –"

"This is my cue to leave," Kol says, standing up and brushing his jeans off.

"Kol –" Esther says, but he is already walking out the door. Her lips pinch together.

"I'll talk to him, Mother," Elijah says.

"Thank you, Elijah."

He meets her eyes, but cannot sense what she feels. He only sees himself, reflected in the blue.

Kol has found himself a nice cozy tree to sit in in the woods behind the house before Elijah discovers his whereabouts. He stands wordlessly under the branches until his brother begins to speak.

Kol purses his lips and smiles, shaking his head. "Whenever she opens her mouth, I just –I can't stand there and listen." He laughs, an empty sound.

"Why not, Kol?"

"Why _not_?" Kol stares down at him, incredulous. "Because she still tries to tell us what to do, but I'm older than her by nine hundred years! I know more, I've experienced more –why do I have to listen to her?"

"She is our mother," Elijah says quietly. "It's respect."

Kol rolls his eyes, hard from too many years and too much death. "What if that's not enough, Elijah?"

_What, indeed,_ Elijah thinks.

They let the silence between them grow, a comfortable buffer for their worries and their anger.

* * *

"I've been waitin' all daaaaaay for you to call me baaaabyyyy…" Fay croons along with the song as she dances around the living room with Grace. Leah, absorbed in unpacking boxes of books and arranging them on their bookshelves, smiles absently at their antics. She hands a stack to Malachi, who places them on the shelf.

Grace giggles as Fay belts out the end of the chorus: "Don't you leave me broken hearted toniiiight!"

Malachi groans, as only twelve-year-old boy trapped in a house full of women can. "This song is girly."

"I can change it." Fay sashays to her ipod and in a few seconds, "I'll Make a Man out of You" begins to play. "Is that better?" She crosses her arms playfully, her hip jutting out. Everything about her screams, 'I am the cool aunt.'

"Good call," Leah says, snickering. She hands the next bunch of books to Malachi.

A bell somewhere gives off a mangled chime. They all wince. "Is that your doorbell?" Fay asks, raising an eyebrow. "You might want to get that checked."

"I'll get it," Malachi says, dumping the books onto the shelf and hopping up to get the door.

Leah straightens the books and follows Ky to the door, making it to the hallway before she hears an excited "Hi, Elijah!"

Her breath comes short. Why? It's just Elijah –but she can't stop hearing Fay's voice in her head. "_A good _hot_ man?"_

Speaking of the devil, Fay glues herself to Leah's side in fascination and they both round the corner.

"Hello, Ky." His voice is warm. Kind. Like the rest of him. Leah receives a dig from Fay's elbow as her sister gets her first look at Elijah. It's a silent sisterly _I told you so._

"Do you want to see our new house?" Malachi asks, looking over his shoulder to his mother and his aunt. "It's real great."

"Really great," Leah corrects gently as they come up behind Malachi.

"I would love to, but I'm afraid I can't stay," Elijah tells. "I just dropped by to say hello to you and Grace, and to give something to your mother." He smiles down at her son, and then looks up. Is it her imagination, or does he smile wider? Leah nervously tucks her hair behind her ears.

"Hello, Leah."

"Hi, Elijah. This is my sister, Fay. I told you about her," Leah says, motioning to her sister, who is grinning widely.

"Hey," Fay says, throwing up a hand in greeting. "Nice to meet you."

"Likewise," Elijah tells her. "I'm glad you found your sister."

"Me too." Fay's smile grows softer, and Leah can finally see the little sister who got lost amid all the madness that captured their family.

"Are you in town for long?" he asks.

"Just a couple days." Fay shoves her hands in her pockets. "I can't be away from school for too long, or they'll miss me. But I'll be back for Thanksgiving."

"Well," Elijah says, pulling a rich envelope out of his suit jacket, "if your family is free Wednesday evening, my mother is throwing something of a party." He hands the envelope to Leah, who immediately notices the gorgeous feel of the paper as she opens the invitation.

"Please join the Mikaelson family Wednesday evening at seven o'clock for dancing, cocktails, and celebration," Leah reads. She looks up and meets Elijah's eyes. "Something of a party?" she repeats, the corner of her mouth curling up.

"So, like, a ball?" Fay says, peering at the invitation.

He shrugs, a matching smile on his mouth. "My mother wants to celebrate our family's reunion."

"If balls are how your family celebrates, count me in," Fay murmurs.

"I…" What does she say? "It's going to be far too late for Grace and Ky."

"I don't care," Ky shrugs, uninterested in the whole thing. She isn't really surprised.

"Well, someone has to stay –"

"It's called a baby sitter, Leah." Fay's elbow makes contact with her ribs again, and while it doesn't hurt, it's irritating.

"Thank you, Fay," Leah mutters. She looks back at Elijah and smiles wryly. "Thank you, Elijah. We'd love to come."

His eyes glow when he is pleased. When had she noticed that? "Then I will see you Friday night, Leah."

When he kisses her hand, she can feel her cheeks turning red. _That's so odd,_ she thinks faintly, trying to memorize the sensation. _I didn't think I was able to blush anymore._

He kisses Fay's hand as well –she smirks –and shakes Malachi's hand before leaving.

Fay closes the door and leans against it with a huge grin on her face as Malachi goes back to shelving books. "I told you so!" she crows. "He's totally hot and _completely_ into you."

"He's not 'into me'." Leah puts air quotes around the words. _Though if you don't stop going on about it, I might be in danger of…_ she cuts off her thoughts before they go too far.

"Excuse me? You were practically making out with your eyes," Fay insists.

"Fay!"

"And he is such a dish, I don't blame you one bit. Makes me wonder what the rest of his family looks like…" she raises an eyebrow suggestively.

"And he can probably hear what you're saying," Leah says delicately. Actually, he probably can't, because she can't imagine Elijah eavesdropping, but he is a vampire, and if she can hear a rabbit fifty yards away, then surely he can hear their conversation through the walls.

Fay shrugs. "I don't care, let him. Maybe it'll encourage him."

"Faaaaay," she begs, nearly at her wit's end.

Her sister sighs, losing her teasing attitude. "Leah… it's not a bad thing, okay? I want you to be happy, and Elijah… you're right, he seems like a great guy. And it's not like you're married anymore."

Leah's gut wrenches. "I don't…"

"It's a fact. You're not married. The way it goes is, 'Til death do you part,' and you died, Leah."

"It still doesn't… feel right to me."

"Come on!" Fay's eyes blaze and she plants her hands on her hips. "Your marriage ended five years ago! Frank sure doesn't consider you still married!"

Leah tucks her chin against her chest and walks into the kitchen. She doesn't want to have this conversation right now. She doesn't want to have it ever.

But of course, Fay can't give up on an argument. "He's no longer a part of your life!" she insists, following her. "I thought that's what leaving him was supposed to prove! To make him gone from you for good!" Her words jumble in her passion.

Leah stares sightlessly out the kitchen window. "It is –_was_ –I just –"

"For God's sake, Leah! He shoved a stake through your chest! And I had to pull it out!"

Leah squeezes her eyes tight shut, trying to force away the memories, block out the feeling of betrayal –pain –agony –inflicted by the man who was supposed to love and cherish her. Her grip on the sink tightens, and something cracks.

Her eyes fly open and she jerks her hands away.

The counter-top under her hands has a few spider web cracks in it. Fay comes up beside her, and they both stare at the cracks in the Formica.

"Oops," Leah finally whispers.

Fay snorts, and the tension dissolves.

They hug. All is forgiven.

But not forgotten.


	10. Chapter 10

**An: he he he he he... get excited :D**

**Chapter 10**

"Boom! Jackpot!" Fay says, throwing open the front door and coming through to the kitchen where Leah is throwing beads on wires and twisting them into shapes faster than the eye can see. Apparently, this is the time of year for homecoming and winter parties… and balls, like the one they're going to tomorrow.

At the grocery store this morning, before she left Fay in town to shop while she went to hunt, she spotted a woman sporting one of her simple dangly earrings. She had stopped in the middle of the store and stared for almost a minute.

_My work sells,_ she reminds herself again,_ and people want to buy it. I'm making money._ She sets down another completed necklace and takes up another length of wire. _I can do this._

It's a good feeling.

It's only two –Ky isn't home from school yet. She has finally gotten him enrolled in Mystic Falls Middle School, and he rides the bus there and back. In another hour, he'll be home. She misses her little man when he's at school.

"Jackpot of what?" she asks, hands still moving even as she focuses on the bags in Fay's hands.

"Dresses." Fay holds up the bags. "Unearthed at that trendy resale store. We'll match, and get this –forty bucks for both dresses!" Triumph gleams in her eyes, and she pulls out a gray strapless dress, floor length and lovely.

"Wow," Leah breathes. The gray is more dove than gunmetal, and she suddenly sees endless possibilities for accessories. The dress is simple and slimming, made of a solid material topped with a gauzy sheer fabric.

"I did good, huh?"

"Did well," Leah murmurs, ingrained in the habit of correcting Ky's speech. She looks up and grins at Fay. "Yeah, these are amazing!"

"I'm gonna need to take mine in a bit," Fay says, pulling the other dress out of its bag. "Or else it'll be dragging all over the floor and tripping me when I try to dance. And then I've gotta think about jewelry! Have you started on anything?"

She fingers the fabric, trying to think of colors, shapes to suit it. "I might have a few ideas," she murmurs.

Dancing. The word explodes in her brain. "Oh, brother."

"Huh?" Fay holds the dress up to Leah and squints. "Ugh, the length is perfect for you. I hate being short."

"Dancing, Fay. I can't dance."

Fay shrugs, all blasé panache. "You helped me learn my drill team routines when I was in middle school."

"That's not party dancing."

"Well, let's just hope Elijah has learned to lead well from all his years being undead."

"It's not just the dancing, though –I haven't been to a party in five years. Actually, probably more than that." She sighs. "I don't know if I can do this."

"You can," Fay says bluntly. "And you will. You _deserve_ a party. You deserve to wear nice dresses and have a fun time. You deserve to dance with your man."

"I told you –"

"I know, I know." She holds up her hands, sighing. "No more jokes. I promise."

"Thank you," Leah says. She doesn't mean to shoot her sister down, but it does feel …impolite, to discuss the man who has been so incredibly kind to her in such a flippant way. "Sorry for being such a killjoy. Anyway," she says, changing the subject. "Do you have any idea for _your_ jewelry?"

Fay grins. "Boy, do I. It might be a little hard to make, though."

Leah casts a glance over her shoulder at the piles of necklaces and bracelets –all pretty, all simple. "Hey, I'm ready for a challenge," she says, rolling up the sleeves of her baggy sweater. "Hit me."

* * *

Everyone pretends that they can't hear what Esther and Klaus are saying behind closed doors, but clearly they can. Elijah stares resolutely at the shoes in his hands, Kol fiddles with his cuffs, and Rebekah flips through her magazine on the couch. Finn has left the room for parts unknown.

Elijah wonders if Kol realized what he was doing when he stepped between Rebekah and Klaus, or if he had done it unconsciously. Even with his brother's penchant for fighting with Rebekah, it seems that he reserves that right for himself; they all seem to have a built-in necessity to protect their little sister. Even Niklaus has it on occasion; however, he usually put his own needs over everyone else's.

Elijah frowns slightly. He had saved Elena from his sister's wrath the night before, but if the conflict between them persisted –and he was sure it would, this was Rebekah, after all –something would need to be done. Anger happened to be the family failing, even for him, though he tried hard to overcome it. A broken vow was something he could not abide.

"Now," Esther says, leading Klaus back into the room with the rest of her children, "whom are you bringing to the ball this evening?" She regards him with an expectant smile.

Klaus sighs and has the decency to look rueful. "Don't be ridiculous. You're lucky I'm even going."

"Well, I wish you would reconsider. It is going to be a magical evening," their mother says with a smile. "Rebekah, what about you? Who are you going to bring?"

Rebekah flips another page in her magazine. "I …was thinking about Matt. I haven't asked him yet, though."

"Is he a nice boy?"

"That is hardly the question we should be asking," Kol murmurs, and Elijah resists the urge to kick him. He was doing so well for about five minutes. And Matt Donovan is far more than a 'nice boy,' considering his sister's other paramours over the centuries. Matt Donovan could be very good for Bekah.

Luckily, Rebekah only gives Kol a withering look. "Yes, Mother, he's nice."

"And what about you, Kol?"

Kol shrugs off the jacket and hands it to the tailor for adjustment. "I haven't been awake long enough to get to know anyone yet, Mother." His smile turns into a surly look directed at Klaus when Esther looks away.

"And you, Elijah?"

Why does he distrust her inquisitive gaze? Why can't he believe she wants to forgive Klaus? "I have asked a friend and her sister."

"And who is this 'friend'?" Esther asks.

"Her name is Leah, and her sister is Fay. You'll meet them both tomorrow."

"Such mystery," Klaus remarks, collapsing onto the couch and picking up an invitation and a pen.

"Well, I'm intrigued," Esther says with a coy smile. "You'll have to make a point to introduce me, Elijah."

"I will," he says, trying to imagine how that will play out. How meeting all of his family will play out.

Honestly, there are so many variables, he can't.

* * *

_The next day_

"Thank you so much for coming, Bonnie," Leah says gratefully. The girl has appeared on her porch like a lifesaver. It took a little shuffling to find someone who wasn't going to the Mikaelson party.

"No problem." Bonnie shrugs off her coat, smiling.

Leah makes a mental note to give her a bonus. "They've both had supper, and Grace's bedtime is eight. Ky can stay up 'til nine-thirty."

"Got it."

Fay emerges from the bathroom with her dress on and her makeup half done. "I'm gonna do you in five, Leah."

"Okay," Leah replies faintly. She is still in jeans and a sweater, and she desperately wants to know if, as a vampire, she is still capable of butterflies in her stomach. Because she's pretty sure she's got some, and they're staring to form a conga line. "Ky, Grace, you remember Bonnie, right?" Leah asks, since her daughter is currently peeking out behind the kitchen door.

"Hi," Ky says slowly, completely focused on his Legos on the living room floor. Grace flashes a smile and wags her fingers before disappearing.

"You shouldn't have much trouble," Leah finishes lamely.

"I think we'll be okay," Bonnie assures her, dropping her purse on the sofa and sitting down beside Ky on the floor.

Fay opens the door to the bathroom. "You're up, Leah."

"Okay…" she dusts off her hands and submits to the inevitable.

* * *

"Aren't you going to do anything with _your_ hair?" Leah asks, wincing as Fay scrapes combs and who-knows-what through her long hair.

"You don't mess with perfection." Fay smirks and pats her buoyant curly locks that hang loosely around her shoulders.

"Hmph." Leah's eyes water as Fay jabs in a bobby pin too harshly. "Oww!"

"You can take it, Ms. Invincible."

"Doesn't mean I'm immune to pain," Leah mutters. "What are you doing to my hair?"

"Making it faaabulous," Fay sings, continuing to torture her chosen victim. "Beauty is pain."

"It's almost not worth it."

"Oh, beauty alone, maybe not. But your hair will stay up all evening, and _then_ you'll be grateful."

_The most irritating thing is that I can't see what she's doing._ Leah is perched on the toilet seat while Fay wrangles her hair into submission, and she isn't facing the right way to see the mirror. "How much longer?" Leah begs.

"A few more seconds," Fay mumbles around the bobby pins in her mouth. "Hold your horses."

Leah rolls her eyes.

A few more skewers, and she's released. "Okay," Fay declares. "Take a look."

Carefully standing, Leah peers into the mirror. Who is that? Not her, surely. With a little makeup and her hair done, she looks…

"You're a queen," Fay says, satisfied with her handiwork.

"How did you do it?" Leah whispers, touching her hair hesitantly.

"Small braids and curls all tossed up and coiled and pinned and hair sprayed. You're welcome."

"Fay, it's gorgeous!" Leah exclaims, feeling her eyes sting with sudden tears.

"No, _you're_ gorgeous," Fay corrects her, crossing her arms over her chest. "Now hurry up and get dressed; we're gonna be late!"


	11. Chapter 11

**An: get excited it's really long! And this is just the first part of the ball! :)**

**A couple things: you should totally google Dragon's Eye Opals -they're gorgeous! I'm specifically speaking of the red/pink and blueish purple ones. :)  
Secondly, I don't do the whole line dance thing that they do in the episode -seriously, how does everybody know the dance? I don't understand.  
Thirdly, I understand that some people don't agree on the order for the Mikaelson kids? but in THIS fic, the order goes Finn, unnamed bro who died, Elijah, Klaus, Kol, Bekah, and Henrik. Because it just worked out that way and I think Finn looks older than Elijah.  
**

**Okay please enjoy! :) And don't forget to review, I like hearing what you guys think!  
**

* * *

**Chapter 11**

The first guests are arriving, and the whole mansion is full of light and warmth and circulating waiters bearing trays of champagne. Klaus is already nursing his second glass. Elijah appears at his side. "Not to worry, brother. She'll be here."

"This is Caroline we're talking about," Klaus says, fondness and light frustration clouding his tone.

"Of course," Elijah says with a smile. There is always the possibility of surprise when Caroline Forbes is involved in anything. But Elijah hopes, for Klaus's sake, that she will grace him with her presence.

Rebekah sweeps into the ballroom, looking very –Elijah hesitates to use the phrase 'grown up', since his little sister will never be grown up, but –mature and lovely.

"Bekah, you look beautiful," he says, smiling.

She treats him with a rare happy smile in return. "Thank you, Elijah."

"When is your date arriving?"

Rebekah fidgets with her bracelet. "Any minute, hopefully." Her voice acquires a disgruntled tone. "What about your mystery date?" She raises an eyebrow, turning the tables on him.

"She'll arrive when she arrives."

"I'm not even going to ask about Caroline," Rebekah sighs.

Klaus gives her a dark look. There are no secrets in the Mikaelson mansion.

"Oh, Elijah, I forgot –Finn's looking for you," Rebekah says, turning back to Elijah. "He's in the library."

"Thank you, Bekah," he says, moving in that direction.

The oldest Mikaelson stands by the large fireplace in a tuxedo –quite different from the last thing Elijah saw Finn in, which is now nine hundred years out of style.

"Rebekah tells me you were looking for me?"

Elijah's older brother breaks his contemplative stare with the fire and faces him. "Yes, Mother asked if you'd say the welcome and announce the first dance once everyone has arrived."

"Of course," Elijah agrees easily, sensing something more to come.

"Mother also wants to speak to Elena Gilbert when she arrives, so if you see her, point her in Mother's direction."

Warning bells begin to peal in Elijah's ears –but for what reason? Why can't he accept that she wants to forgive Klaus?

Because anger is the Mikaelson family failing, and Esther is still a Mikaelson.

He swallows back a growl of irritation. "Why does Mother with to speak with Elena?"

Finn shrugs. "I don't know."

He _does_ –his shrug lifts a heavy weight that settles back down on his shoulders like a mantle. And this makes Elijah even more wary, because Finn has always hated what they are, never felt peace except for the brief period when he met a woman named Sage. But that was ages ago.

"All right," Elijah says. "I'll tell her if I see her." He'll also tell Elena a few other things.

"I suppose we'd better go play hosts," Finn says, sighing.

He can't argue with him there.

* * *

"Okay, time for a girl check," Fay says as they step out of the car.

Leah barely hears her. This house is humongous, and lights blaze out of every window as people in suits and dresses stream in. "Wow."

"Leah!"

She blinks. "Sorry. What?"

"Girl check." Fay turns slowly, shivering as the cold night air gusts over them. "No weird strings showing, no panty lines, no lipstick on the teeth…?"

Leah inspects her, paying careful attention to the jewelry she applied not fifteen minutes ago to make sure it's not slipping. "Does your arm band feel okay?" she asks.

"Yep." Fay holds out her right arm, which is covered with an eclectic assortment of jewelry. Her index and middle fingers are covered with metal claw rings, and an assortment of bangles crowds her wrist. Above that a silver cuff covers a good bit of her forearm –the one thing, along with the claws, Leah didn't make. Apparently it was acquired at a Renaissance festival. On her upper arm, Leah has molded a single strand of silver wire around her arm abstractly. It creeps up to her shoulder, where the body chains that sweep from her choker end.

She never could have pulled it off, but it suits Fay, oddly. And with the gray dress –it makes her look mysterious, smoky and strange. "You look fantastic," Leah says, pursing her lips and nodding decisively.

Fay grins and tugs her coat over her shoulders. "Okay, your turn."

Leah obediently turns in a circle. Her only accessories are long white evening gloves, gold drop earrings, and a choker that she had made years ago. The gold setting makes the different pinks, oranges, and blues of the opals, a type called Dragon's Breath, glow brightly with an inner light. Her heels are the lowest she could find –Fay's are the tallest. Leah has a going bet with herself about which will break first –the stilettos or Fay's ankle.

"Abso_lute_ly beautiful," Fay proclaims, linking arms with her sister. "Let's go party."

They follow the rest of the partygoers to the front door, where men take the ladies' wraps and hand everyone glasses of champagne. The inside of the house is even more impressive than the outside, if that's possible.

"I don't remember what we're supposed to do after getting in the door," Leah murmurs in Fay's ear.

"Find your –_ahem_ –friend?" Fay grins with enough teeth to make a shark envious.

"Please," Leah mutters, scanning the crowd, full of chattering people that she doesn't know. She squares her shoulders.

Suddenly, she hears Fay's heart trip –then accelerate into a rapid staccato for several beats before she takes a deep breath. "I think I found him," she says.

Leah turns.

Elijah always looks well dressed, and perhaps that's what has prevented her from seeing what Fay sees –he's handsome. Amid the bedecked partygoers and the lavish atmosphere, she can see it –it was always there, constant, just like his nature. Where most people dress up and look better under these conditions, he looks exactly the same.

She swallows, wondering where all the moisture in her mouth has gone.

His eyes light up when he sees her, and he smiles widely before starting to make his way to her through the sea of people.

She can't stop the same smile from spreading over her face as well.

"You came," he says.

"I said I would," Leah reminds him gently.

"I know." Something kindles in his gaze as he kisses her hand. "You both look incredibly lovely," he says, taking in their matching dresses that manage to compliment both sisters' unique styles. "That is impressive," he says of Fay's jewelry.

"Leah made most of it," Fay says, extending her arm for inspection.

"They were your ideas," Leah feels obliged to mention, giving credit where credit is due.

"Fantastic, on both ends of the creative spectrum," Elijah says, though he looks at Leah when he says it.

"So, Elijah –is this your mystery girl we've heard so little about?"

Leah blinks. The young man who has appeared at Elijah's elbow bears strong resemblance to him, but is an inch or so taller. His smile is mischievous.

"Kol, this is Leah and her sister Fay. My brother Kol." Elijah motions to each in turn.

Fay's heart again rushes into staccato beats for a few seconds. _So this is whom she saw across the room,_ Leah thinks, appraising him.

"Pleased to meet you," Leah says with a small smile.

Kol's eyes glint as he kisses her hand. "Likewise."

He turns to Fay, and Leah starts at the slow smile uncurling across her sister's face. It's playful –almost seductive –and she's not sure how she feels about this.

"Nice to meet you," Fay purrs, holding out her hand –the armored one. Their eyes meet, and there is static in the air as he presses his lips to her metal fingertips.

"It is wonderful to meet you, Fay," he says. "You're not drinking anything. Would you allow me to get you a glass?"

"I guess that'd be all right," Fay concedes with another pleased smile. "Lead the way."

Leah watches them go, head reeling. Sometimes she forgets her sister is twenty. "Well," she says, at a loss.

"That went a lot better than I expected," Elijah admits with a smile.

Leah laughs, staring up at him in bemusement. "What were you expecting?"

"I have no idea." He offers her his arm, and she can't keep the little thrill that sneaks down her spine away. She places her gloved hand in the crook of his arm and lets him lead her through the crowd.

They pass important-looking men and women, and the cologne and perfume clouds engulf her. She can't help wondering why she's here. She's not important or noteworthy. She's not–

"What?" Elijah asks, alerted by her quiet gasp.

"She's wearing one of my necklaces," Leah breathes, completely floored. She motions unobtrusively to the short woman in the cream colored dress. This woman is here, at this fancy ball, wearing one of _her_ designs –she can't believe it.

"She's showing off a beautiful creation," Elijah says simply.

Leah looks up at him and beams.

"Elijah," another man calls, maneuvering around a crowd of people.

"Finn, this is Leah. Leah, this is my older brother, Finn."

Leah takes a moment to evaluate the three Mikaelson men she has met so far. They all seem to share the same chin and cheekbones, though this one looks the most severe. "Pleased to meet you."

"How do you do," Finn says, without a smile. "Elijah, most of the guests are here. It's time."

Leah raises an eyebrow.

"Time for me to give speech on family and such," Elijah murmurs to her. "If you'll excuse me?"

"Of course," Leah says, releasing her hold on his arm and watching as the two brothers make their way up the staircase.

Kol and Fay appear from another room, and the younger man follows his brothers as Fay returns to Leah's side. She holds a half-full glass of champagne, smirking.

"I like this family," Fay murmurs, sipping from her glass. "They're all charming and hot."

"Oh?" Leah asks. "You seemed to… hit it off pretty well with Kol."  
"Please," Fay scoffs. "I don't go for men _that_ old."

"Who do you go for?"

She shrugs, amused. "Depends."

"Ah, if everyone could gather, please." Elijah's voice projects across the crowded room once his family has assembled on the staircase. Leah studies the faces –there's only the blond girl and a handsome young man she hasn't met yet.

Elijah has total command of the room as he effortlessly addresses the crowd. "Welcome, thank you for joining us. You know, whenever my mother brings our family together like this, it's tradition for us to commence the evening with a dance. Tonight's pick is a centuries old waltz; so if all of you could please find yourselves a partner, please join us in the ballroom."

Fay snorts as the crowd begins to flow towards the ballroom. " 'Centuries old'," she repeats, using her clawed fingers to make air quotes. "Vampire jokes. They were there when the waltz became fashionable, probably."

Leah's brow wrinkles at the thought. It's entirely possible; she doesn't know just how old Elijah's family is.

Kol descends the stairs effortlessly and bows before Fay. "Might I have the pleasure of this dance?"

Fay observes him for a second before shrugging. She places her glass on a waiter's tray. "Why the hell not," she says, placing her hand in his.

"Would you do me the honor?" Elijah murmurs at Leah's elbow.

Flattered and unsure, she smiles apologetically. "I've got to admit that I can't actually dance."

"It's easy," he promises. "I'll teach you."

"Well, if I manage to step on your feet, I'm terribly sorry," Leah says, allowing him to lead her into the ballroom.

"You won't," Elijah assures her with a smile. "Put your left hand on my shoulder."

Leah does so, fighting off a blush. Her other hand is safely held in his, and his hand comes to rest under her shoulder blade.

"Do you know what a box step is?"

"Um, is it related to the jazz square?" she asks, feeling colossally ignorant.

"In a way," he explains as the music begins. "But instead of crossing over your feet, bring them together. Just mirror me."

She starts out hesitant and awkward, but the music is in three-four time, and she knows that rhythm. Her feet get the hang of the movement, but she wants to check constantly to see if they're doing what they're supposed to.

"Don't look down," Elijah instructs. "Look at me. Your feet will keep up."

_I'm afraid looking at you will make me trip_, she thinks, but she lifts her chin obediently and glues her eyes to his jawline.

"Has Fay had dance lessons?" he asks conversationally. "She seems to be holding her own as well."

Is that supposed to mean she's holding her own, too, because it feels like she's flying. She's upheld only by his touch and expects to hit the ground any second. "She was in dance in middle school, but I don't know if she's done anything recently."

"I think it must be a trait you share."

"What?"

"Being good dancers."

She chuckles incredulously. "Are you sure you're not exaggerating slightly?"

"No." He shakes his head and he spins her out, and then in again. The room twirls, and she forgets to breathe. "You're a natural, see?"

"Maybe you're just good at leading," Leah replies, tilting her head to the side.

"Well, we'll find out. We've got to switch partners." Her face must reveal some sign of panic, because Elijah continues, "It's all right. The way the dance is structured, I hand you over to Kol."

That doesn't make her feel one hundred percent better, but at least she has met his brother.

"Are you ready?" he whispers in her ear.

_No, not at all,_ she thinks. His arms are safe. "As I'll ever be."

Elijah spins her out and Kol tugs on her free hand, pulling her in.

"How lovely to see you again, Leah," Kol says, eyes glinting with humor.

"It hasn't been that long, has it?" she attempts to banter, focusing on finding her rhythm with this new partner.

"Depends on your point of view." Something hides behind his eyes, and she knows he's not actually looking at her. He's scanning the crowd, watching someone she can't see.

"How many brothers and sisters do you have?" She might as well fact-find.

"There were seven of us to begin with," Kol says. "But two of my brothers are dead."

"Oh," Leah whispers. "I'm sorry."

He focuses back on her, faint surprise entering his face. "It was a long time ago," he replies. "But thank you. There's Finn, Elijah, Niklaus, me, and Rebekah. Who've you not met yet?"

"Um, Rebekah and Niklaus, I think," Leah says, putting names to faces. Those must be the blond siblings.

"That will be a treat," he says sarcastically. "What about you? You're a vampire, but you're sister's not …what's the story there?" He tilts his head and smiles at her, his eyes searching hers.

It's unnerving when her perception is turned on her. "It's rather complicated," she says lamely, knowing the excuse is overused. "I'm eight years older than her, so the… unforeseen circumstances … passed her by."

"And now she's going to pass you by," Kol murmurs.

Leah nearly trips, and only Kol's grip on her keeps her upright.

The future has come crashing down on her –Fay is growing up, and she_ is_ going to pass Leah by. She's going to graduate and get a job and get married and have children and her older sister is going to remain twenty-three forever. The knowledge drives itself through her chest with the paralyzing force of a stake. She can't even _think_ about Ky and Grace.

"Family's important," Kol whispers. "You've got to stick together."

The song ends and they come to a stop. The dancers are supposed to bow and curtsey, but all Leah can do is stare after Kol as he bows respectfully and retreats. What was he trying to imply, that –that she should do to her sister what that vampire did to her? This was _Fay_, she could never, never kill her sister. Two wrongs didn't make a right.

She would rather go back into hell than consign someone else to her deathless fate.

"Leah? You okay?"

She turns to her sister and listens to her heartbeat, quick and loud and comforting. "Yeah," she says, squeezing Fay's hand. "Fine."

"How did you like your first dance experience?" Elijah asks.

She meets his eyes, and he's watching her carefully, but he doesn't pry. Her gratefulness makes her generous, and she speaks of the 'first' part. She smiles. "It was wonderful, thank you."

"I'm glad," he says, brown eyes alight. "If you'll excuse me for a moment?"

Leah nods, and he leaves them.

"What's the deal?" Fay crosses her arms. "Was Kol being stupid?"

"I –I don't know. Why do you say that?"

She shrugs, tossing some of her brown curls out of her face. "I get the feeling he can be kind of an ass."

"Be polite, Fay."

"My jerk-meter is creeping towards red, how about that?"

"For his being a jerk, you two seemed to click pretty well earlier," Leah notes, now worried.

"I told you, no. Ugh, he's like, so old." Fay giggles. "Even if he looks really hot."

"Um… how many glasses of champagne have you had?"

"Two." Fay shrugs.

"You aren't legal yet, are you?"

"Don't be a buzz kill, Leah. Look, there's Caroline. I bet she's had a glass, and she's still in high school."

Leah looks, and sure enough, there's Caroline, looking splendid in a beautiful blue dress.

She sees them at the same moment, and a huge grin breaks over her face. "Leah!" she exclaims, her skirt swishing as she walks. "You're here!" Caroline throws her arms around her.

"Hi," Leah says, hugging back. "You look completely lovely, Car."

"Aww, thanks," the blond girl says, a pleased smile crossing her face. "Hi Fay. How're you?"

"Pretty awesome," Fay says. "And you?"

"Good."

The blond man Leah remembers from the staircase makes a beeline for Caroline. "Who's that?" Leah asks softly, though she has a pretty good guess.

Caroline looks over her shoulder, and Leah catches an eye roll before Car pastes a polite expression on her face. "Leah, Fay, this is Klaus. Klaus, this is Leah and her sister Fay –Leah is Elijah's date," Caroline adds.

She's not sure how she feels about the word 'date' because it implies things that she isn't sure about, but she smiles politely and says hello without correcting Caroline.

"A pleasure to meet the one Elijah has been so secretive about," Klaus says, with much the same accent as Kol's. His bone structure is different from his brothers' –he has more similarity to his sister, Leah supposes.

"I'm not really that mysterious at all," Leah says, laughing a little.

"Sure you are," Fay says dryly. "You're crawling with it."

"It's not _interesting,_" Leah insists.

"It must be, or Elijah wouldn't have been so closed-mouthed," Klaus says, a smirk at the corner of his lips.

"_Klaus_," Caroline snaps, crossing her arms. Her glare could make armies tremble.

Leah sighs, knowing peace will not reign unless she says something. "My 'mystery', as you put it, is simply that I am a single vampire mother with two human children, and no one seems to be able to reconcile that in their minds."

* * *

He's trying so hard not to lurk outside the doorway, but he needs to know –he has to know –and Elena Gilbert is the only one who can tell him if his doubts are unfounded or correct. Finn knows something. His stoic brother is doing his best impression of a block of wood, and that never bodes well for anyone, but he isn't in with Esther. Elijah saw him go back to the ballroom.

Elijah sighs, restraining the urge to pace and lurk. He can hear the party, the music –if he strains, he can pick out the sound of Leah's voice, quiet and controlled. But he can hear nothing behind the door, not even hearbeats. His mother is doing a spell in the middle of her party, and Elena is with her.

Until he saw Elena slip away, he thought he could forget his worries for the night, and possibly do what the party was intended for –_celebrate_ –but fate always seems to have other plans.

Somewhere, Leah laughs, and the sound strikes a hidden chord in him that he thought could never be played again. He closes his eyes and pictures her when he first saw her in that restroom, and then pictures the Leah tonight –happy, smiling, and radiant. The transformation is astonishing, and he has never been so glad he made the right decision before.

The lock turns in the door, and he is across the foyer and down the hall in the blink of an eye, waiting. The swish of a dress and the click of heels grow steadily nearer, and Elena finally emerges into the larger room. Her heart jumps at the sight of him.

"So how was my mother?" Elijah says lightly.

"Intense," Elena says with a big sigh.

Truth. "And for what reason did she need to speak with you in private?"

A gulp, hesitation, a spike in heart rate. She isn't looking at him.

"Elena?" Elijah presses. "Should I be concerned about my mother's intentions?"

"She just wanted to apologize for trying to have me killed."

She is still avoiding his eyes, but that seems to be true as well. However, they spent far too long in that room with a privacy spell up; that cannot be all they talked about. "So it's true, then? She's forgiven Klaus?"

She looks into his face and says, "It's true."

_Lie._

He can't even find anger amid the shock that Elena Gilbert would _lie_ straight to his face.

Something strikes crystal, and Esther's voice rings out over the crowd. "Good evening, ladies and gentleman. Waiters are coming around with champagne. I invite you all to join me in raising a glass. It provides me with no greater joy then to see my family back together as one. I'd like to thank you all for being part of this spectacular evening. Cheers!"

The word repeats in his head over and over again, reverberating like the crystal. _Lie, lie, lie._ He takes a glass from the waiter, watching Elena. "Cheers."

She clinks her glass with his, and he hears her heart accelerate, but she drinks the champagne. He takes a sip as well.

A muscle jumps in his jaw. _Lie, lie, lie_.


	12. Chapter 12

**Whoops my bad, here you go.**

**Chapter 12 **

She's never been much of a champagne fan; so after the toast, Leah places hers back onto the waiter's tray. Caroline has been led away by Klaus to go look at something –Fay mumbles that that is code for 'make out', but Fay hasn't known Caroline for very long yet. A lot of tension crackles between Caroline and Klaus –and not all of it is sexual.

"You could have given me yours, I would've drank it," Fay says, sipping at her own glass.

"That would have made four glasses, and I think that's a bit much for one night."

"So?" Fay stares at her. "Nobody cares."

"I care!"

"It's not a big deal, Leah."

"You're still not twenty-one, Fay."

"You're not my mother."

"No, but I'm your big sister –"

"Yeah, and you made stupid decisions too, so how do you get to –"

"I don't want you to make the mistakes I did," Leah hisses.

Fay has no response.

She had been a stupid and unloved teenager, and she had acted rashly and without thought, and look where it had gotten her.

"If you're going to make mistakes, at least be original about it. All right?" Her voice cracks on the last word.

Fay nods subtly. A corner of her mouth twitches.

The tension dissipates in their chuckles, and Fay sniffs before setting her glass on a waiter's tray. "I'll keep that in mind," she says, still smiling.

"Someone's in a good mood."

Leah's smile grows as Elijah joins them, but she gets a good look at him and frowns slightly. Something seems off.

Fay holds up her hand. "Guilty as charged. A little too much champagne on my part. I'm gonna…" she points to the finger food.

"Good idea," Leah says, and Fay waves before investigating the food choices.

"Was that your mother who gave the toast?" Leah asks.

Elijah nods wordlessly.

"You all have her chin, I think."

He doesn't respond, and Leah gauges the look on his face. "Is something wrong?"

His attention snaps out of foggy half-attention and focuses back on her. "Hmm?"

"You've got…" She reaches up and lightly touches his jaw with her gloved finger. "Tension in your jaw. Are you okay?"

He raps his cool hand around hers and runs his thumb over her fingers. "Nothing I can't worry about later." He smiles, and it still has a forced air, but she doesn't pry –it's not her place.

She nods slowly, and he's still holding her hand. For a foolhardy moment, she wishes she weren't wearing gloves –she wishes that he'd pull them off and –

They both start at a thump outside the doors. Like an unspoken signal, all the Mikaelson siblings make for the door, unhurried but purposeful. Leah hurries after Elijah, unsure what's going on. She only knows he laced his fingers through hers, consciously or unconsciously, and she has no desire to pull away.

They all spill out through the open front doors, and Leah stills at the sight of Kol's prone form on the bricks.

"Far be it from me to cause a _problem,_" Damon Salvatore spits, glaring at Elena Gilbert. He turns and walks away, and Leah looks back and forth between Elena and Stefan and Damon's retreating form.

"I am so sorry," Elena begins, but Elijah cuts her off.

"This is not your fault, Elena," he says. "Finn, could you take Kol around the house to the library doors? We don't need the guests to see."

Finn picks up their younger brother wordlessly and hoists him over his shoulder, beginning the trek around to the library's veranda doors.

"I think it might be, though –I said some things to Damon I didn't mean, and –"

"Damon is responsible for what Damon does," Elijah assures her. "And I don't think Kol is completely blameless, either."

Elena nods awkwardly and takes Stefan's arm, letting him lead her to their car.

The siblings disperse, and Elijah sighs. "I'm sorry about that," he murmurs in her ear.

Leah repeats his words back to him. "None of that was your fault."

"No, but it's my family, and oftentimes, our violate nature gets the best of us."

Leah squeezes his hand that she still holds. "It's all right," she whispers.

"I'm afraid I will have to go explain things to my mother," he says, leading her back inside. "Will you be all right without me for a few minutes?"

For a moment, Leah contemplates what would happen if she replied with some banter like, 'what would you do if I said no?' But that isn't who she is. She only nods and smiles, telling the truth.

He squeezes her hand before he lets it go.

* * *

She has obviously heard from someone, because Esther Mikaelson looks extremely peeved.

"Mother –"

"Not here," she says, her voice low and angry. She walks back through the hallway towards the study, and as Elijah follows her, he is strongly reminded of a teakettle on the verge of boiling. The back of her head vibrates as she comes through the door, and she snaps, "No violence, that was all I asked! Rebekah and Kol disgraced our family tonight."

Elijah holds up a hand, making a mental note to quiz Rebekah on her involvement in this debacle. "It won't happen again, Mother. I'll deal with them," he promises.

Esther sighs, her eyes traveling over his face.

The word repeats in his head again, a mantra that will not be silenced. _Lie._

She walks forward and places her hand on his cheek, not unlike Leah's hand that rested there not too long ago. He stiffens.

"Thank you, Elijah," she whispers, staring into his eyes. "I wish the others were more like you."

He knows what she means –controlled, moral, less explosive –but he doesn't like it. He is not in an exclusive club. He's just like his siblings. He just chooses to restrain himself more. His eye twitches as he wonders what is up her metaphorical sleeves.

He doesn't want to know. He desperately doesn't want to know. But he's got to find out, one way or the other.

He gently removes his mother's hand from his skin. She tries to place her hand over his, but he slips out of her grasp and turns away. He and Finn meet in the doorway, and Elijah's determination grows.

They are up to something, and he will find out what it is. He's got to, because for all Esther's professions about wanting their family to be as one, he is the only one who cares enough to hold his family together.

On his way out of the ballroom, Elijah snags Rebekah and pulls her aside. "Mother says you had something to do with Kol's unfortunate incident. Is that true?"

His sister looks down and away. "I told him to forget it," she mumbles. "Kol was just being stupid, as usual."

"But you said something to him before that?" Elijah prompts gently.

She swallows, looking sullen.

"Rebekah."

"I told Kol that I was going to lure Matt outside and that I wanted his help," she whispers. "And then I changed my mind, and Kol decided to be stupid."

The unspoken reason for which she wished to lure her date outside hangs in the air.

"And why were you going to do this?"

"To get back at Elena." Rebekah grinds out the words.

Elijah sighs. "Rebekah, you need to forget this grudge."

"She stuck a dagger in my heart!" his sister insists.

"We have all been daggered by someone much closer than Elena Gilbert," he reminds her. "And if we can forgive Klaus, why can't you forgive Elena?"

"Who says I have," she mumbles.

A small part of Elijah wonders if Rebekah will ever get over her idea that killing people will solve her problems. "Well, what stopped you, if you want revenge on Elena so badly?"

Rebekah tucks her chin into her chest, far from his loud, confident sister. "He gave me his jacket," she says in a small voice.

Elijah tips her chin up so he can see her eyes. "Matt was kind," he says.

She nods.

"And if you had gone ahead with your plans, that bit of kindness in the world would have disappeared," he continues. "I'm glad you changed your mind, Bekah. Sometime tonight, apologize to Mother, would you?"

She nods, if reluctantly.

Elijah kisses her forehead and heads toward the library, where, with any luck, Kol will have woken up by now.

He finds Kol lying on a couch in the library, but Leah and Fay are there, too.

"I thought someone should sit with him, until he wakes up," Leah says quietly from her perch on an overstuffed footstool.

Fay sits in an armchair, bored with all the proceedings. She raises an eyebrow. "I'm eating grapes." She holds up the bunch of red grapes and pops one into her mouth.

"Thank you," Elijah tells Leah, touched. He inspects Kol, who is, for all intents and purposes, dead to the world. "I was going to have a few words with him, but it looks like it might be a while."

"I can stay with him," Fay offers. "You two can go schmooze some more. When he wakes up, I'll tell him you want to see him."

Elijah frowns. "I'm not sure if –"

"I've done it before," Fay assures him. "You just stay away from the teeth and you're fine. Go on." She waves Leah in his direction.

He would protest more –Kol is not exactly cheery when woken from an injury –but she has_ done it before_ and the only vampire she would have experience with is Leah.

There are still many things he does not know about Leah, and the bits and pieces he does learn through throwaway comments like this scare him. She should never have had to go through anything like this.

Elijah makes a decision. Kol is not completely brainless. He ought to know that if he tries anything with Fay, retribution will come raining down on him swiftly and harshly. And Fay has, as she said, experience with this sort of thing. "Thank you, Fay," he says, hoping the gratitude comes through in his words. His worries are piling up tonight.

"No problem." She pops another grape in her mouth.

Leah takes his offered arm, casting a worried glance after her sister, but she doesn't protest.

Elijah waits until they are out amid loud talkers before murmuring, "She has experience?"

Her gentle sigh confirms his suspicions. "I hoped you hadn't caught that," she whispers.

"Why?"

She bites her lip. "It's hard… to talk about." She looks around the room, sorrow in her eyes. "Not something I wanted to think about tonight."

He places his hand over the one nestled in the crook of his arm. "Then we won't."

She looks up at him, surprised.

"But if you need to talk about it… I'm here," he promises.

She smiles, shaking her head a bit. "You've already done so much for me."

"But I want to," he whispers.

Her bottle-green eyes are so inviting, and she is so close, and her lips look so soft… Elijah nearly loses himself for a moment.

The music from the ballroom changes, and he knows that another dance is about to begin. "Would you like to try dancing again?" he asks.

She nods, smiling shyly. "I'd like that very much."

* * *

"This is about my speed," Leah admits, as Elijah leisurely leads her around the dance floor as the band plays a slow, slightly jazzy tune.

He smirks. "Duly noted."

"What do you need to note it for?" she murmurs curiously.

"Future reference."

Is this flirting? She hasn't flirted with anyone in twelve years. It was never something she was much good at. Fay was the one who excelled at witty comebacks, even as a child. She'll content herself with her silences and the sound of the band, the smell of his cologne and the solid muscle of his shoulder.

She has noticed the trickle of people slowly leaving the room, first in ones and twos, and now in larger clumps. The ball is winding down, and she resists looking at the clock. She is going to hang onto this feeling for all its worth.

As she stares over Elijah's shoulder, Leah spots Fay emerge from the hallway with her shoes over her shoulder. Trailing behind her comes Kol, watching Fay with a fascinated air.

"Kol's awake," she informs Elijah.

He raises an eyebrow and smoothly turns them so he can see what she sees. "So he is. And it looks like he has behaved himself."

She had been a little worried for Fay, but from the satisfied expression on her face, it seems like all has gone well.

The song winds down, and inwardly, Leah knows the clock has struck. Her legs hurt, and Fay has to leave in the morning. She sighs with regret.

"Hey Cinderella," Fay says, as Elijah and Leah exit the ballroom, "we promised Bonnie you'd be outta here by midnight."

"Oh, is it that late?"

"Mmhm. We've got just enough time to make a dignified exit before everything turns to mice and pumpkins," Fay jokes.

Leah makes a mental note to drive home. Fay's got a spacey, sleepy look in her eye. "I suppose we'd better go," she says, turning to Elijah. "I had a wonderful time. Thank you so much for the invitation." She smiles at him, eyes shining, hoping they will say what her lips cannot.

"I'm glad you came."

* * *

They collect their coats and walk out into the moonlight, silently making their way to the car. Once inside and on their way home, Fay laughs a little. "Well, I had fun."

"Good," Leah says. "I'm glad."

"I leave tomorrow, you know."

"I know." She will miss Fay –but she is comforted that she has had this chance to grow closer to the sister she thought lost to her forever.

"I'll write," Fay promises. "Or I'll call, if you ever get a phone line. And I'll be back for Thanksgiving."

"Are you sure you want to do that?" Leah says, turning onto the main road.

Fay scoffs. "A horrible three days with Dad and Monica, or you? There's no contest, Leah."

"What are you going to tell him?"

"I'm going home with a friend."

"Are you sure your truck can make this drive again?" She has seen Fay drive that thing –it's on its last axle. She has a sneaking suspicion that Fay keeps it running with both feet.

"If it can't, I'll grab a bus. Or hitch. Somehow."

Leah glances at Fay out of the corner of her eye. Her sister is looking particularly mulish. "You can't talk me out of it, Leah."

"Be safe," Leah whispers pleadingly.

"Always."

She doesn't want to ask, but… it's a reality she's got to face. "What is Frank going to do when Ky and Grace don't make a Thanksgiving appearance? Didn't Dad question where they were while he was in the hospital?"

"That is so not your problem at all, Leah."

"He claimed I was _dead_, Fay. He can't say I suddenly came back to life and took our children."

"Sucks for Frank." There is no pity in Fay's voice as she holds her hands over the heater. "And he's not your husband anymore, Leah."

She doesn't say anything, just keeps her eyes trained on the road ahead.

"You know what?" Fay says. "You need closure."

Boy, does she. "Thanks, Captain Obvious," Leah murmurs dryly.

"Divorce his ass, Leah."

"What?" She nearly jerks the wheel, she looks at Fay so sharply.

"I mean, you can't go to court because you're legally dead, but…" Fay shrugs. "I can take papers or something back, just saying that you're divorced and he'd better stay away from you."

Isn't it just easier to let sleeping dogs lie?

But if he ever comes after Ky and Grace… if he decides he can't in good conscience let them remain with their mother the monster… She licks her dry lips silently.

"I mean, you don't have to do it this second. You could even wait 'til after I come back at Thanksgiving. Just think about it. 'Cause you need _something._"

As badly as she wants to deny it, Fay's right. "I'll think about it," Leah promises, turning onto her street.

"Good enough," Fay sighs.

They pull into the driveway, making sure Bonnie's car can still leave, and walk up to the porch. Fay yawns widely.

"Hi, Bonnie," Leah says softly, stepping into her living room. Bonnie smiles from the sofa where she is curled up with a book. "Any trouble?"

"They were great," Bonnie assures her, standing. "Though, when I put Grace to bed, she felt kind of warm to me… you might want to check her temperature."

"Thanks for telling me." Leah gives her a generous bonus –it's a little past midnight –and Bonnie says goodnight.

"I'm gonna…" Fay points towards the bedroom she has been sharing with Leah.

"Go on." Leah waves her on. She's got to get up in the morning and drive. Fay disappears down the hallway. Deciding to make a cup of tea before she goes to bed, Leah puts the kettle on and sits at the kitchen table while she waits for it to boil. She slowly pulls off the long evening gloves and unclasps the necklace from around her neck. The hairdo proves more difficult –Fay was right, it stayed up all night –but she gradually finds all the bobby pins and rubber bands, and her dark gold hair tumbles down, a mass of curls and thin braids.

That's going to be a pain to comb out in the morning.

_But it was worth it,_ Leah thinks, remembering the looks Elijah had given her over the course of the night. She chuckles a little to herself, burying her head in her hands.

Fay was right. She finds Elijah very handsome indeed.

* * *

**AN: just a note -I don't think divorce is a good thing. I think marriage is work and falling out of "love" isn't a good enough reason to get a divorce. You won't always feel a feeling, love has to be deeper than that. But when it's a case like Leah's, where someone is in danger in whatever way, it's a different matter altogether.**

**I didn't want someone to assume something I didn't mean :) Because Fay isn't someone who's going to articulate all of that, haha :) Please review and tell me what you think!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

"Come and give your Aunt a kiss!" Fay exclaims, sweeping Grace up in a fest of giggles. She is rewarded with a smack on the cheek. "Now you be good for your mom," she says, setting her niece down and wagging her finger playfully.

Grace giggles and yawns. Her cheeks look flushed, and Leah remembers Bonnie's words from the night before. Placing a hand on her daughter's forehead, Leah also notices the unnatural heat. She makes a mental note to hunt up the first aid kit after Fay leaves.

"Now, you're man of the house, huh?" Fay says, planting her hands on her hips and turning to Malachi. The bus will be here any minute, but Fay woke up early to say goodbye. "So you know what you gotta do?"

"Take care of Mom and Grace?" Malachi says.

"Nah." Fay opens her arms. "Give me a hug!"

Malachi laughs and squeezes his aunt, but his smile slips off his face.

"And you better have this Lego thing finished by the time I get back," Fay continues, "because I'm awful at Legos. Think you can do that?"

"Yeah," Malachi says, enduring her head ruffle.

"Leah, this boy is starting to sprout."

"Don't I know it," Leah murmurs. His pant legs have become much shorter in recent weeks.

Fay ruffles Ky's hair again. "You know, you can fix that by tying a brick to his head."

They all laugh, and the yellow school bus drives past their house to stop at the end of the block.

"Gotta go," Ky says, grabbing his backpack.

"Love you!" Fay says, waving.

"Have a good day, honey," Leah calls after him.

He turns and waves before sprinting for the bus stop. He charges up the steps, and the bus pulls away from the curb.

"Far too cute," Fay remarks. "Okay, li'l bit, one more kiss and I'm outta here." Grace obliges her, and then it's Leah's turn.

"Drive safe," Leah says, wrapping Fay up in her arms. "Stay warm, do well in school…"

"I'm not _your_ kid," Fay teases. "I'll be fine."

"I love you," Leah says as she walks her out to the car.

"Love you too, sis."

Leah doesn't thank her for all that she's done –Fay already knows, and anyway, she'll just brush the sentiment off –but she stands at the end of the driveway and waves at the truck until it turns a corner and can't be seen anymore.

Grace tugs at her jeans leg, and Leah picks her up. "Well, it's just you and me now, Gracie."

Her daughter frowns, patting her head.

"Head hurts?"

Grace nods.

"Well, let's just take your temperature and find out what's the matter with you," Leah declares, carrying her back into the house.

* * *

One temperature check and one trip to the store later, Leah has Pediacare fever reducers to combat Grace's 102 degree fever.

"Open up," she says, holding the cup of medicine that is dubiously flavored "great grape taste."

Grace wrinkles her nose.

"If you take your medicine, I will read to you about the _Velveteen_ _Rabbit_," Leah promises. "And we can have tomato soup for lunch."

Grace opens her mouth reluctantly, lured by the promise of story time with Mommy, and Leah tips in the medicine.

"That wasn't so bad, was it?"

Grace pouts.

"You can get back in your pajamas, if you want," Leah says. "We can have a lazy day."

Grace scampers to her room to grab her flannel cloud pajamas. Leah changes her clothes, and then puts on pajama bottoms herself. If they're going to lounge around the house all day, they might as well be comfortable.

She sits on the couch, and Grace settles against her chest. She can feel her daughter's heat, like a tiny little inferno sitting on her lap. Leah brushes Grace's hair off her forehead and reminds herself to keep an eye on the clock for the next time she needs medicine.

"Okie-dokie." She cracks open the book. "The Velveteen Rabbit."

They make it halfway through the story before Grace conks out, asleep, head lolling on Leah's shoulder. Leah doesn't move. She watches and listens, drinking in the soft sound of her daughter's even breathing and the steady thump of her heart. _This can count as her nap today,_ Leah thinks, sighing quietly and reaching for the small volume of poetry on the edge of the sofa.

"She walks in beauty like the night," she whispers quietly to Grace, who probably could not have cared less if she had been awake, but she likes reading poetry aloud. And a captive slumbering audience is better than none. "Of cloudless climes and starry skies; / And all that's best of dark and bright / Meet in her aspect and her eyes; / Thus mellowed to that tender light / Which heaven to gaudy day denies."

Yes, poetry is best whispered to the silence of an empty house and a sleeping child. It echoes better in the soul that way.

* * *

The day is spent in easy leisure –Malachi returns home and does homework, and she does a little bit of jewelry planning, but mostly watches Grace move around in short fits of energy that quickly fizzle. Malachi helps her make dinner: scrambled egg sandwiches. After supper, they do dishes –she doesn't have a dishwasher –and Ky reads his book a bit before returning to his Lego set.

Leah sends Grace off to bed early with another dose of medicine, and when her daughter doesn't protest, Leah knows she's well and truly sick. She inwardly sighs and puts off her plans to scrape off the awful wallpaper and paint the house 'til another day.

"Ky," she asks quietly, watching her son squint first at the directions of his set and then at all the tiny pieces, "come here a minute, would you?"

He gets up and comes over to sit by her on the couch. She hands him Grace's _Velveteen Rabbit book_. "Can you read this first page aloud?"

He brings the book nearer to his face, but Leah gently pulls it back again. "Can you read it from this distance?" It's about arms' length away from him.

He squints hard, and begins to read. "_Here was once a velveteen rabbit, and in the beginning he was really splendid. He was fat and bunchy, as a rabbit should be; his coat was spotted brown and white, he had real thread whiskers, and his ears were lined with pink sateen_."

"Thank you," Leah sighs, closing the book. "I think we need to get you glasses, Ky."

"I don't need them," Malachi insists.

"Yes, you do." Leah puts a hand on his head. "Can you see the board at school?"

"My teacher uses an overhead projector."

"Can you see it?"

"If I look real hard."

"Really hard," Leah corrects automatically. "Remind me next week, and I'll see if there's an eye doctor in town that we can go to."

"Okay."

"No one gets called 'four eyes' anymore," Leah assures him. "Glasses aren't that bad."

"Can I do my Legos now?" he asks, clearly uncomfortable.

"Yep."

He scrambles off the couch and returns to the carpet.

"Your Legos would probably be easier with glasses, you know." Ky doesn't respond. Leah opens her poetry book up again, but movement outside the big bay window catches her eye.

It could be nothing, but it could also be something. She puts her book down and opens the front door, stepping out onto the porch. The streetlight is dim, but she doesn't need its help. No people, no cars, no –

"Elijah," she says, surprised but pleased. "What brings you here?"

He stands in the overgrown weeds at the dead end, looking just as surprised as she is.

"What are you doing out here in the dark?" she asks, teasing a bit.

He looks down at the ground, but takes a step forward, and Leah's smile slowly disappears.

"What's the matter?" she asks, letting go of the door and walking to the edge of the porch. Never mind that she's wearing pajama bottoms and her feet are bare –poorly disguised agony lurks in his eyes. "Elijah?"

"I have done something utterly reprehensible," he murmurs too quietly for human ears, but she can hear him fine.

"Oh?" Leah whispers.

"I came to say goodbye."

"Why? Where are you going?"

"I don't know –I just can't stay there."

There, not 'here' –not Mystic Falls proper, but simply… home?

She has known a home that was not a refuge in any sense of the word. "Well, you shouldn't make any split second decisions," Leah says, her apprehension and concern gelling together to form a solid sense of purpose. "And I happen to have a comfortable couch and a tea kettle that needs breaking in."

It clicks in his expression what she's offering. "Leah…"

He needs someone, the way she did, albeit in a different way. Maybe she can finally return the favor. "Malachi," she says, calling back through the door. "Would you come invite Elijah in, please?" Her son appears in the doorway, squinting out into the dark. When he sees Elijah, he grins. "Hi!" he exclaims. "You can come in. What are you doing here?"

"Just dropping by to say hello," Leah says, saving Elijah the trouble to answer, though it's far past time for a house call.

"Do you want to see my Legos?" Malachi asks hopefully.

Leah turns back around to Elijah, waiting for him to ascend her porch steps, daring him to disappoint her son.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

He should not have come. He is not the man Leah should allow near her children. He can still smell the smoke and the salt that clings to his clothes. He should turn around and leave right now, get a thousand miles between himself and his family –but the weight of his decisions and actions presses down on him so heavily that he cannot add to it by wiping the hopeful smile off Malachi's face.

His feet move independently and close the distance. Ky does a joyful leap and scampers inside the house. Leah holds the door open, waiting. He pauses in the entryway. Leah's eyebrow arches questioningly over her bottle-green eyes.

"Thank you," he breathes.

She smiles and whispers, "My pleasure."

Her home is warm and lit. Malachi kneels on the living room floor surrounded by tiny little bricks.

"Make yourself comfortable," Leah says, disappearing into the kitchen.

"What are you making?" Elijah asks, sinking down beside Ky on the floor.

"It's a pirate ship," Ky explains, handing over somewhat crumpled directions. Sure enough, he can see the basis of a ship's hull in the early stages. "I have a hard time finding the pieces," Ky admits, a bit reluctantly. "Mom thinks I need glasses."

"Your mother is very smart," Elijah says, listening to the quiet clinking in the kitchen. "She probably knows what she's talking about."

* * *

"Would you like some tea?" Leah asks, poking her head back into the living room. "I have green tea, chamomile, blackberry, and peppermint." She doesn't miss Ky's disgusted face, and Elijah doesn't either.

The corner of his mouth twitches. "Peppermint, please."

She moves back to the kitchen where she grabs mugs and the box of peppermint tea. The kettle is just beginning to whistle, and she pours the water into the mugs, letting the teabags seep. The clock is ticking rapidly towards Ky's bedtime, but she can make an exception just for tonight. Peeking through the doorway, she can see a small blond head and a darker brunette head bent over tiny pieces. Elijah hands Ky the pieces, and he presses them into place.

Something pulls at her heartstrings, watching them.

She carries both mugs into the living room and paces Elijah's on the low table within easy reach. Settling back onto her corner of the couch, she picks up her book and pretends to read, but really watches the two of them, listens to Malachi's explanation of how the ship is supposed to look and Elijah's questions of what they need next –he's so relaxed compared to ten minutes ago. This is just the therapy he needs.

She wonders how Malachi knew.

Elijah looks up from the construction in progress, and their eyes meet.

She has called Elijah 'strong' from their first meeting, and he is, of course he is, but no one can be strong forever. There is a fragility in his eyes that touches her heart. He looks back at Malachi when her son asks a question, and Leah feels gifted with a rare sight.

"Ten more minutes, Ky, and then off to bed," she murmurs.

Ky nods, distracted; his attention is wholly focused on the Lego ship that is making rapid progress. Leah sips from her mug and doesn't even bother with her book.

* * *

The minutes slip by quickly, and the clock softly chimes ten o'clock. "Ky, time for bed," Leah says.

"Moooom," he whines, looking up from the ship.

She raises an eyebrow. "It's thirty minutes past your bedtime. Start cleaning up,"

"Okay," he mumbles, scooping Legos back into their container and moving his ship off the living room floor.

"What do you say?" Leah prompts quietly.

"Thank you for helping me," Malachi says, turning to Elijah.

He smiles at the boy. "You're welcome. I had fun."

"Me, too," Ky says, suddenly smiling. He surprises Elijah by throwing his arms around his neck. "Can you come back soon?" he whispers.

Elijah wraps his arms around the boy carefully, very conscious that his mother is about two feet away. "We'll see," he says. He doesn't know if he can make that promise right now.

Ky is not entirely satisfied with his answer, but nods.

"Come on, Ky," Leah says, standing up. "I'll tuck you in."

"Mom, I'm not a baby anymore."

"Humor me, sweetheart."

Elijah hides a smile as Ky grumbles, but wraps an arm around his mother as she herds him down the hallway.

That's what mothers and sons should look like. He could never imagine Leah hurting her son. She would never try to kill him, even if she thought that would right a wrong.

Elijah stands and walks to Leah's bookcase, trying to push away the image of his mother standing inside a pentagram of fire, staring him straight in the eyes with no remorse.

His fingers travel over well-worn spines, reading the authors. Tolkien, Austen, Lewis, Dickens, Chesterton, Spurgeon, Alcott, Faulkner, Dostoyevsky, Keats, Browning… he plucks the book from the shelf, frowning. He hasn't read this in years. He opens the volume, noting the annotations along the pages.

"What did you find?" Leah asks, a hint of humor in her voice.

He turns away from the bookcase and smiles. "I haven't read this in a very long time," he says, handing her the book.

She sees the cover and her eyes widen. "_The Ring and the Book_… I had to read it in college." A strange look passes over her face. "Perhaps it's time I read it again," she whispers.

"So, I assume you liked it?"

"Well, I had to write a paper on it…" Leah says dryly. "That was a little difficult with a four year old who wanted a lot of attention, but I got it done." She opens the pages, looking through the dog-eared pages. "I did enjoy some sections very much."

"Which ones?" he asks.

"Well, I –oh!" She exclaims. "We don't have to keep standing. Please," She gestures to the couch.

He takes a seat, and she sits down beside him, finally finding the place she wanted. "I really loved the three central monologues… especially Pompilia's. It makes more sense now." She runs her fingers over the words, but then looks up at him. Her eyes are filled with compassion. "Elijah, what's wrong?" she whispers.

He cannot stop himself from looking away, swallowing back the bile that rises within him.

"You don't have to tell me," she backpedals, afraid she's overstepped.

"No," he whispers. "No, you need to know, Leah… if you did, you might not want me in this house with your children."

She blinks in surprise. "Then tell me," she whispers.

How to begin? How does one spin a tale that spans a millennium? "My mother is the Original witch," he says, starting simple. "It was she that turned my family into vampires –to save us, she thought, from the threat of the werewolves. She did not know the cost." His jaw tightens. "We became bloodthirsty and predatory killers. And my brother Klaus killed her, though he lied about it."

"But I saw her…" Leah whispers.

"A witch preserved her body with a spell," Elijah says, "and with a lot of power, she was able to come back to life –for what reason, I was unsure. She professed to want our family whole, to forgive Klaus." He breathes out angrily. "I found out last night that was a lie."

Leah puts a hand to her mouth, eyes growing wide.

"She wanted to right her wrongs… and kill the abominations she created."

He is staring off into space, reliving the horror and the heart-wrenching agony when Leah's slim fingers curl around his hand, squeezing hard. He stares down at their entwined fingers and then meets her eyes.

The sheen of tears makes her eyes lose their bottle color and become deep forest green. They are still pools reflecting mighty trunks covered with foliage, and he is in deep danger of falling in. "I'm so sorry," she breathes.

He can't say anything. She doesn't know the worst of it. She doesn't know –but she's got to know. "I had to stop her. I couldn't let her kill my family." The words spill out from his lips, quiet and emotionless. "I used Elena as a bargaining chip to make her friends help me stop my mother. I used Rebekah to keep Elena hostage." He shakes his head. "I have a thousand years worth of blood on my hands. I have killed, maimed, and tortured. I'm a monster."

"_No_."

Her voice is harsh and low, and as he looks at her in surprise, she glares at him. "You are wrong, Elijah."

"Leah –"

"No," she insists. "You were protecting your family."

"What I did was _wrong_," he almost growls. He remembers Elena's fear, Rebekah's glee at his plans –he should never have manipulated them, never –but he could see no other route to take to save his family. _It doesn't make it right,_ the insistent voice inside him whispers, the one he can never shut out.

"Yes," Leah agrees. "It was wrong."

Tension crackles between them. Her eyes are no longer still pools –they are a storm. Lightning is about to strike. "So why are we arguing?" he asks quietly, trying to relieve the strain.

"You are not a monster," she says, her voice taut with emotion. "I have seen monsters, Elijah –you are not one of them."

"I have done things I abhor, Leah."

"It's not just actions that make you monstrous," she maintains. She still has a hold of his hand, and she squeezes it in a death grip. "It's intent and purpose and feeling. You _know_ what you did was wrong, and that's why you regret it, don't you?"

He nods.

"Monsters don't think what they do is wrong. They do not feel guilt," she says as a tear leaks down her face. "You are kind, and protective, and loyal, and good. You're the furthest thing in the world from a monster." Her voice breaks. "I _know_."

She bows her head, letting her hair sweep over her face.

Her words resonate in a place he thought more or less dead. And for a second… just for a second… he allows himself to believe them, and squeezes her hand back.

* * *

She takes a deep breath. He has never pushed, never asked, and she's grateful, but… if anyone has the right to know, Elijah does. And she _wants_ to tell him. She wants to prove to him that he is not a monster, not the despicable person that he thinks he is. She wants to _shake_ him and show him the Elijah that she sees and help him see that he is wrong about himself.

She wants to tell her story.

She thinks she's brave enough now.

"I was pretty stupid when I was younger," she says abruptly, taking a deep breath and regaining control over her voice. "My father divorced my mother when I was five, and I lived with her until she decided she didn't want a child hanging around and hampering her career anymore. She gave custody to my father when I was ten." She looks up and meets his eyes. "By that time, he had remarried and Fay had come along, but her mother didn't much like me, so…" she shrugs. "I didn't have a whole lot of love back then. And it's not an excuse, but… it is what it is.

"I got pretty… rebellious as a teenager, doing the stupid things teenagers do. And then I met Frank, and he was nice, and cute, and he thought I was beautiful… I thought that's what love was, back then." Her mouth has gone dry. She takes a sip of her tea, watching Elijah from under her lashes. He has settled back onto the couch cushions, giving her his undivided attention, still holding her right hand. "And then Malachi came along." She remembers those long knockdown drag-outs with her father and stepmother over what should be done. "If I was going to keep the baby, then I needed support, because my parents made it very clear that they wouldn't keep me and the baby under their roof. But Frank's parents were, thankfully, of the traditional shotgun wedding variety."

Liz and Bert had been good to her. They had helped her through the first rough months of having a newborn, and they accepted her as their daughter. Leah breathes a silent prayer for them, wherever they may be.

"You married at sixteen?" Elijah asks quietly.

Leah nods assent. "Frank was eighteen. It wasn't the best circumstances by any means, but we did the best we could. I started a degree, though I didn't get to finish, and he got a good job… and seven years later I got pregnant with Grace." She takes another sip of tea for courage.

"And then you were turned," Elijah says.

"Caroline told you?"

He nods.

"I had no idea what had happened," she sighs, the corners of her mouth turning down. "I was afraid and scared, and I knew something was wrong –Frank knew it too. I couldn't even get inside the house at first. Malachi had to ask me to come in," Leah says. "So he left me home with a week old baby and a seven year old while he went around to all his friends, searching for answers.

"I cried all the time," she whispers. "Looking back, I think I finally know why: I had postpartum depression when Ky was born, and since being a new vampire makes everything… heightened?" She frowns, checking with him to see if she's getting it right. He nods again, and she continues. "I probably had the worst case of vampire depression on record. I cried, and I found out that sunlight burned me, and I was hungry all the time… but not for food. I _knew_ something horrible had happened since I remembered drinking _blood_ and having horrible thoughts… and then Malachi worked up the courage to tell me what had happened while I was... dead."

She winces, staring into her mug of tea. It had felt like her whole world had come apart at the seams and rearranged itself while she was asleep. Was life such a transient thing, to be taken away so easily?

Elijah's hand squeezes hers again, her anchor in this whirlpool of memory. But he didn't have to be strong for her now. She had walked through the valley of the shadow of death and came out the other side. "I taught Ky to take care of the baby. How to change her and feed her formula and how to hold her. Because I knew I couldn't for much longer." This was important; she had to look at him, meet his eyes when she relived this, so he'd know the truth.

His eyes are dark and shuttered. She can't stop to process what he could be feeling or thinking. But he's listening; she knows he is. "One of Frank's buddies knew someone who turned out to be a vampire hunter. Frank heard what he had to say, and he brought him to see me. And then it all came out. The man said that I was a danger to him and to the children, and I needed to be killed. He would have done it right then, too, but Malachi grabbed onto me and wouldn't let go. He was crying and screaming for them not to hurt me, and I was crying because everything he said sounded true –I was an abomination –and Grace started crying because of all the noise… he finally left on the condition that Frank would lock me in the basement. And he did."

She doesn't really want to relieve every second of those years –they're over, that's what matters. She doesn't want to remember every harsh word, every hurt look, every weapon used against her. But she's got to make her point somehow. "It didn't start horrible. Nothing does. But Frank started training with that hunter, learning how to –to kill vampires. And then …he needed to practice," she says, her voice dropping down to a whisper. "I know what vervain feels like, tastes like. I know how a stake feels when its buried in your chest. I've felt wooden darts pierce my skin. I've had knives rip through my flesh, and all by the hand of the man who promised 'for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health'. He couldn't see that I was still _me_. He believed I was a monster… and he made me believe it, too."

She shakes her head, emotion finally overtaking her. "But he was wrong."

* * *

**AN: guys, I'm sorry but my life got incredibly crazy. Apologies. But I've got a question for you: who watches the Originals, and if you do, what do you think about it? I've seen a couple episodes but not many.**


	15. Chapter 15

**AN: Life is still extremely crazy, but I'm so looking forward to Easter! And I love you guys, especially you new followers and favoriters! Hope you like this next chapter! :)**

**Chapter 15**

They have both experienced betrayal by a loved one. She has been wounded down to her very soul, and for that he wants to move heaven and earth and lay waste to kingdoms for her revenge. For her honor. That's what he wants, but it isn't what _she_ wants. And that is why Leah is so, so much better than him.

For a dizzy moment, he contemplates pulling her to him, holding her close, kissing her lips… in order to undo the vilest wrongs. But he's not sure how she would react, and the last thing she needs is to undo the healing that has happened here in Mystic Falls. He rubs his thumb in circles on the back of her hand. "You should never have had to go through that," he says, a rough edge in his voice.

To his utter surprise, she smiles. "Hey, I'm supposed to be the one comforting you, remember?"

"You do an excellent job," he murmurs, slowly smiling in spite of himself.

"Thanks, I kind of do it around the clock," she says, tilting her head to the side. "Speaking of which… what are you doing out of bed, little miss?"

Elijah turns to see a curly blond head peeking around the corner. Grace walks out of the hallway patting her head and her stomach.

"Feeling yucky?" Leah interprets. Grace nods. "I bet it's time for more medicine." Leah gets up. "This one has a bit of a fever. Grace, you want to say hi?"

Grace smiles at him and clambers up onto the sofa.

"Hello, there," Elijah says, gently brushing her curls out of her face. She does feel very warm to the touch. Grace plops down beside him and snuggles against his side.

"Open up," Leah says, back with a thermometer. Grace wrinkles up her nose, but opens her mouth, and Leah slips the thermometer under her tongue.

He shares a look with Leah over her daughter's head, one of bemusement and laughter. There is no more darkness between them, only truth.

At the small 'beep' Grace spits out the device and Leah looks at the reading. "Still in the hundreds," she murmurs. "Okay, ready for more grape?"

Grace hides her face in Elijah's jacket.

"It's not that bad," Leah says, walking to the kitchen.

Elijah is looking down and catches the stealthy look she casts up at him, as well as the face she makes. He laughs for the first time all day. "You are a character," he informs her.

"Here we go. Open up." Leah holds out the cup of a viscous purple liquid.

Grace buries her face in Elijah's side again.

"Grace," Leah says, her voice becoming firm. "This is going to make you better."

Still no response.

"Grace Michelle."

A whole name. Leah means business. With much grumping, Grace sits up and pouts.

"Thank you, ma'am," Leah says, tipping the cup into Grace's mouth. She swallows, but both adults can tell that it is under protest. "See, not so bad. Do you want some water to drink, now?"

Grace nods fervently.

"Okay."

"That's not nearly as bad as the stuff I had to take," Elijah says to Grace. She looks up at him. "What I had to take when I was sick was horrible, nasty stuff. Your medicine looks yummy to me."

Grace seems unconvinced, but Elijah knows she would take her medicine like a shot if she ever experienced any of the noxious and probably magical potions Esther forced down their throats as children.

"They probably hadn't gotten the hang of flavoring back then, hmm?" Leah says, handing Grace a Sippy cup full of water.

"Not quite," Elijah says, eyes twinkling.

"You still haven't told me how old you are." She settles back onto the couch, Grace comfortably sandwiched between them.

"Quite old." He has seen so much that he can't remember it all at once. He has to sift slowly through the memories. "I was born roughly in the tenth century."

Leah was about to take a sip of her tea, but he's very glad she didn't. She might have choked. "What?" she whispers, eyes round.

"Mmhmm," he says, smirking.

"So… where are you from, originally?"

He's not sure whether she's trying to be punny or not. "I grew up here," he says, a small smile on his face.

"_Mystic Falls_, here?"

The look on her face is priceless. "Yes, Mystic Falls here."

"It's admittedly been awhile since I've had history, but I distinctly remember America being discovered by Columbus…"

"History isn't always correct, you know," he says. "Vikings settled in the upper part of Canada long before Columbus."

"But they didn't come this far south," she insists.

"My family wasn't part of that settlement. We came over from the old world to escape a disease that had killed my older brother, and settled right here."

"Wait, you're…" she trails off, staring at him. "You're a _Viking_?"

"Is that so hard to believe?"

Grace puts down her Sippy cup and puts her hands on her head, her index fingers pointing up. She giggles mischievously.

"We just can't imagine you in a horned hat," Leah says, grinning far too widely for his liking. "But I think it's time for this little miss to go back to bed. Hmm?"

Grace, caught in the middle of a yawn, freezes guiltily.

"Yup. Say night night." Leah collects the Sippy cup.

Grace waves at him, and then stands up on the sofa cushions, preparing to hop down. But she seems to change her mind and looks back at him, planting a wet kiss on his cheek.

He is entirely undeserving of this affection. He must look as surprised as he feels, because Leah is trying hard not to laugh.

"Well that was a very sweet thing to do," Leah says, picking Grace up.

Grace nods emphatically. She makes a motion like opening and shutting a book.

"You've already had a story," Leah says, carrying her down the hallway. "Maybe tomorrow."

"Good night," Elijah calls softly after them, finally finding his voice.

The simple gesture, full of innocence and love, has applied the balm of Gilead for his wounded soul. Elbows on his knees, he holds his head in his hands and feels the residual turmoil drain away like puss from a lanced boil. He sighs and shakes his head in wonder.

Leah's soft tread comes back into the room, and he looks up, meeting her considering gaze.

"Do you know what the name Elijah means?" she asks, sitting down by him again.

"My God is Yahweh," he says, resting his head on his fists, wondering why this is relevant.

"Mmhmm," she says. "He was a prophet. Not a lot of people liked what he had to say. But they needed to hear it."

He thinks he understands. His eyes grow soft, watching her in the light of the dying wood stove.

"I like names," she shrugs. "They say a lot about a person. Malachi means 'messenger' or 'angel.' Grace, of course, means 'God's unmerited favor.'"

"And what does Leah mean?" he asks.

She smiles ruefully. " 'Weary' or 'weak eyes'."

"Leah was the first wife of Jacob," Elijah says. "She was not the wife that he wanted, and he did not love her as much as he loved Rachel… but the genealogy of the Christ flowed through her son Judah."

"There is a reason behind all trials, I think," Leah whispers, smiling at him.

* * *

They talk, about whatever comes to mind. Family, books, history –Elijah actually _is_ a historian: "_I like learning about what was going on in the parts of the world I wasn't in_" –music, anything. Twice she gets up to make more tea for them, and he helpfully stokes up the fire in the wood stove.

Something has happened between them. The silence and empty spaces are slowly dwindling as good things come to fill them up. And she can't deny that she likes it.

Finally, around two in the morning, her human habits catch up to her and her eyes refuse to stay open any longer. She hunts up an extra pillow and a quilt and places it on the couch. "I have got to go to bed," she says apologetically. She's going to be woken at the crack of dawn by the pitter-patter of little feet or Malachi's alarm, whichever comes first. "But here's some bedding to make the couch a little more comfortable –"

"I really should –" he begins, realizing how late it is.

"Elijah, please," Leah says, holding out a hand to keep him on the couch. "I…" What does she want to say, really? _You don't have to go back to a house that might be empty or might be filled with antagonism when you could sleep here?_ "It's no problem at all if you want to stay," she says finally. "You're always welcome, I promise."

He nods, holding her gaze in the dim light. "Thank you, Leah." He reaches for her hand and kisses her knuckles, perhaps to convey his thanks in a tangible way, a way to preserve them and make them real.

She feels the humming of her nerves and the slow thump of her dead heart long after she has retreated to her bedroom. Leah curls under her quilts and breathes very slowly, closing her eyes.

Perhaps her heart isn't as dead as she previously thought.

* * *

**If you guys are interested in more about Kol and Fay, I've posted a one-shot of what went down when they were alone in the library :D Go check it out, it's on my page! It will be important later ;)**


	16. Chapter 16

**To my guest: hello! Yes, Leah looks like Felicity from Arrow :) love that show. Love her, too. Malachi's name is pronounced MAH - luh - kye. The stress is on the first syllable, and the last syllable is like the sound of bye or eye, not like ee. **

**Hope this helps! :) (ps -I love all you guests, I'm sorry I can't respond to you well! )**

* * *

**Chapter 16**

He doesn't sleep much. He doesn't really need to. But he has stretched himself out on her couch for the night, and if he drifts off once or twice during the hours between two and seven, he doesn't mind. He is in the land of half-wakefulness and vague dreams when little feet scuff the carpet nearby. Elijah opens his eyes.

"Good morning," he says softly as Grace smiles down at him with an impressive bedhead for such a little person. She waves. He sits up and stretches. Grace scrambles onto the couch beside him and gazes up at him, rubbing her stomach.

"Hungry?" he asks.

She nods her affirmative quite rapidly.

"What does your mother usually give you for breakfast?" he asks, thinking that Leah is probably still asleep.

Grace frowns at him, like that's a stupid question. For her, it probably is.

"Want to show me?" he asks, holding out his hand. He can feed Grace and give Leah a few more minutes' peace.

Grace ignores his hand and instead reaches up. It takes him a minute before he realizes that she wants to be picked up. And it makes sense, because he's seen Leah carry her before; she's just used to it.

He's just surprised that she would ask him to pick her up.

"Okay," he says, lifting her small body up and standing. She winds her arms around his neck, a warm embrace. She smells like baby shampoo and grape medicine and life, and it's the most fascinating mix of aromas. "Tell me where to go, now," he says, walking into the kitchen.

She points at the refrigerator, and he opens it obediently, guessing at the milk carton. A few more pointing fingers, and he has found a Sippy cup in a cabinet and poured the milk into it, and now stands in the middle of the kitchen as Grace sucks happily at the cup on a kitchen chair.

"Where to now?" he asks.

He follows her finger to the pantry and takes a guess that the cheerios are her cereal. As he hunts for bowls and spoons, an alarm starts to buzz somewhere down the hall.

"Who's that?" he asks, though he doesn't really expect an answer, pouring her a bowl of cereal. He sits down across from her.

Grace picks up a spoon and digs in, chomping the cheerios happily, though she holds the spoon wrong. She smiles, and as he expects, doesn't answer.

"I wondered why no little person came to disturb my sleep this morning," Leah says teasingly from the doorway.

He looks up, and the sleepy smile she gives him steals the words he planned to say. Her dark blond hair is tousled from sleep, and she pushes it off of her shoulder as she pads into the kitchen and begins to finger comb her daughter's hair. "Somebody was a wiggler during the night, hmm?" she murmurs. "Did you wake Elijah up?"

"I was already awake," he puts in truthfully.

She smiles down at him. "Did you sleep okay?'

"Yes. Thank you."

"Mom," Malachi's sleep-addled voice calls from his room, "where are my sneakers?"

"Wherever you left them, I suppose," Leah says. "By the door?"

"Oh." Malachi hops into the kitchen, tugging on his sneakers and making a beeline for the pantry. His breakfast of choice happens to be Coco Puffs. Leah snags the collar of his polo shirt and folds it down as he sits at the table beside Elijah.

"Is your homework in your backpack?"

"Yes'm," he says around a yawn. "Backpack's by th' door." He yawns again and shovels in sugary goodness. "Hi Elijah," he says around a mouth of cereal.

"Hello." Elijah grins.

Leah finishes working through the knots in Grace's hair and moves around the table to Malachi. "Did you comb your hair this morning?" she says, brushing his hair in the correct direction.

"…Not yet," he mumbles.

"That's a no," Leah chuckles. "Silly boy. Make sure you brush your teeth before you go."

"O_kay_, Mom," Malachi says. His tone says it all –he is a long-suffering twelve-year-old who shouldn't need this mothering.

"Uh huh," Leah says. She presses a kiss on his head. "Seems like no one combed their hair this morning," she says, casting a sidelong look at Elijah.

He raises an eyebrow. "It must be catching." He has no clue what his hair looks like.

"It must," she murmurs, reaching out and running her fingers through his hair, smoothing it back from his face.

_It's automatic, she has a desire to take care of others_, he tries to tell himself as he stills completely under her touch. But he can see Malachi around Leah, if barely, and he is making an odd face at his mother. This does not usually happen.

"Better," she declares. "Ky, you need to scoot or you'll miss the bus."

Malachi takes a last bite and carries his bowl to the sink, but he shoots another funny look over his shoulder as he disappears, presumably to brush his teeth as instructed.

Elijah has no idea what that kind of look means, but he knows to weigh every gesture, every look, before he delivers it. The last thing he wants and the last thing they need is to be hurt by a flippant, thoughtless act.

Looks and actions are just like vows, subtle and silent promises that people throw around without thinking. And somehow, that's a worse abuse, because an assuring touch or loving gesture can be interpreted as so much more, even unconsciously, and the one who gave them may not even know what he has sworn himself to, and has even less intent to follow through on such a careless pledge.

He always keeps his word, once given, but he weighs every promise and vow very carefully before he binds himself. He will do nothing less now.

With his heightened hearing, he can hear the screech of brakes down the street, and Leah can, too. "Ky, the bus!" she says.

Malachi dashes past the kitchen and grabs his backpack. "Bye, Mom!"

"Have a good day, I love you!" she calls after him. He slams the door, and Elijah watches him jog down the street to the bus stop.

"I'm pretty sure we get closer and closer to missing the bus every day," Leah sighs.

* * *

"Did you give her medicine?" Leah asks as Grace finishes up her cheerios.

Elijah says, "No, I thought you'd want to do that."

She doesn't mind, but she is pleased that he considered it. "Okie-dokie, Gracie, medicine time." She takes her temperature again, just to make sure she still needs it –it's still in the hundreds range –and measures out the grape Pediacare.

She is apparently feeling docile this morning, because she takes it without much fuss.

"Thank you, ma'am," Leah says as Grace slips off the chair and scampers to parts unknown to play.

She puts Grace's bowl in the sink. "Do you want anything to eat?" She probably should have asked that earlier…

"I don't need anything," Elijah assures her with a smile.

If there were a time that this situation would become awkward, this would be it. But she decides _what the hey,_ and he's a grown man, he can deal with it.

A couple centuries grown, if she remembers correctly from their talks last night.

"Do you have any plans today? Anything you need to do?" she says, leaning against the counter.

He turns more fully to face her. "Nothing incredibly pressing," he says, after having thought a moment.

"Do you want to help me paint my living room?" she asks cheerfully.

* * *

The Mikaelson house looks still and empty, but Elijah doubts it is so –Klaus undoubtedly still lurks somewhere. He isn't sure about the others. He is here to see what the damage from the fallout of Esther's near-genocide is, and to change his clothes. He had agreed happily to Leah's proposition, but she said she wouldn't be responsible for ruining one of his suits.

He opens the door and finds no one in the main living area. Going up to the room that contains his things, he changes into jeans, a black t-shirt, and a leather jacket.

"Elijah?"

He turns to the door to see a very bedraggled Rebekah. "Are you all right?" he asks immediately.

Rebekah nods. "Where were you? I thought you had left."

"I almost did. Who's still here?"

"Just you and Klaus. Finn and Kol left for parts unknown." She swallows, the corners of her mouth turning down.

He realizes that Rebekah is the only sibling who did not confront Esther. He had planned it that way when he tasked her to guard Elena –he wanted to spare her from that. But now he wonders if he did her a disservice. She has not completely confronted the stark reality that their mother wants to kill them. "Bekah… I'm sorry."

"You already apologized, Elijah –"

"No, not for using you, though I am sorry for that –I'm sorry that Esther's resurrection was not the joyful reunion you wanted."

Her lip trembles, and he can see her start to crumble. Elijah takes a step forward and pulls her gently into his embrace. She doesn't cry, but she does lean heavily against him for a long time.

When she finally pulls away, she has recovered her poise and armor. He wishes he could give her a reality where she doesn't need it.

Her eyes flick down his appearance. "Where are you off to?"

"I'm going to paint a house."

"What? Why?"

He smiles. "I was asked. And I want to do something with my hands. To not… think, for a while."

She raises an eyebrow. "Whose house?"

"Leah's. Did you meet her at the party?"

"Your mystery girl? I think I saw her, but I never met her."

"Do you want to come with me?" he asks.

"And paint a house?" Rebekah wrinkles her nose. "Not really."

"All right," he says, scribbling down Leah's address on a piece of paper. "If you change your mind, or if you need me, I'll be here."

Rebekah looks dubious, but she takes the paper anyway.

On his way out, he kisses her forehead. He has a faint memory of doing the same thing when she was a newborn, still red and squashed-looking. Mikael had taken the boys out of the house to keep them occupied when Esther went into labor, but they could still hear her grunts and cries as the women who had come to help coached her through the birth. Finally, a tiny wail from the baby pierced the air.

Once Esther and the baby were clean, the boys were allowed in to meet their new family member. Rebekah had seemed so tiny and fragile lying there in his mother's arms, and Elijah had leaned over and pressed his lips to her small head. He had loved her instantly.

He still does.


	17. Chapter 17

**AN: y'all's reviews are so cute and I love 'em, thanks so much! :D**

**Chapter 17**

She is staring studiously at the wall, she really is. She's really intent on scraping this wallpaper off. And, you know, if she catches sight of Elijah over the sheet-draped furniture piled in the center of the room… well, it's not an incredibly large room.

A voice that sounds suspiciously like Fay's whispers, _he can wear the hell out of a t-shirt. _

She tells the voice to shut up.

She's not even looking at his chest or biceps or anything like that, honestly. If she's looking at anything (which she's _not_) she's looking at his corded forearms, the new expanse of his neck, and the concave dip at the base of his throat that collars previously hid from her.

It's amazing what a freed inch of skin can do.

She frees the wall of long curls of wallpaper rapidly, putting her attention back to the wall. They're almost finished with wallpaper –if they can get the paint on at the same clip, all the paint has to do is dry and she'll have a lovely living room.

Suddenly, a howl splits the still air, one of outrage and pain. She is down the hallway and in her daughter's room in half a second.

Grace wails and holds up a finger that got pinched in a toy car she undoubtedly "borrowed" from Malachi. Leah picks her up and settles her on her hip, inspecting the injury. Grace hiccups.

The pinched skin has split, but not too badly –with some Neosporin and a Band-Aid she'll be right as rain.

A bubble of blood wells to the surface of the cut, and it instantly reminds Leah that she has not had her three rabbits for the day.

Leah carries Grace to the kitchen, breathing through her mouth.

"Everything all right?" Elijah asks. He can smell the blood, too.

"Just a little mishap," Leah says, turning on the water. "Let's wash it off, now, Grace."

Grace's wails start up again as the water makes her cut sting. Leah holds her hand firmly under the flow until she's sure it's clean.

"Could you get me the first aid kit from this cabinet?" she asks Elijah, tapping it with her foot as she pats Grace's hand dry with a towel.

He obliges, opening it and handing her a Band-Aid and the antibiotic. She expertly squirts on the gel and wraps the finger. "There we go," she says, kissing first her daughter's face and then the wounded digit. "All better, see?"

Grace sniffs, looking at her Scooby-Doo clad finger. Then she pokes Leah in the stomach.

"What?"

Grace does it again, looking from Leah's stomach to her finger and finally it sticks.

"Oh, baby, my boo-boos don't work like your boo-boos. Yours take a little bit more time," Leah tells her, smoothing back her hair. "Now be careful, and don't take Ky's toys. You have plenty of your own." She sets her down.

Grace scampers to the covered bookcase and pulls out one of her picture books, holding it up.

"Mommy's working right now, sweetie."

"If you want to go hunt, I can read it to her," Elijah offers quietly. "I don't mind."

"Oh, I…" She is about to protest, say she's fine. But he has noticed she is affected. And putting up a polite front, saying he doesn't have to do that… it flies in the face of the utter openness they had last night.

And Grace likes Elijah, and he obviously likes her just as much.

"That would be wonderful," she says humbly. "Thank you."

"My pleasure," he says, eyes glowing as Grace hands him her chosen book. He sits down on a kitchen chair and she, without any hesitation, scrambles into his lap.

"I'll be back soon," Leah says, grabbing a jacket.

He nods over Grace's head. "Let's see –_Possum Come a-Knockin'._ 'Possum come a'knockin' at the door, at the door'…"

She leaves silently, listening to the sound of his voice fall easily into the rhythms of the children's book.

* * *

_This book is adorable,_ he thinks, turning the pages. His voice slips into the familiar slow, long vowels of the South as he reads the rhymes to the attentive girl on his lap. " _'It's a possum come a-knockin' on the door!' I said. 'It's a possum come a-knockin' on the door!_'" He turns the page and continues.

"_Then Brother came a-leapin' and Sis come a-runnin' and Baby came a crawlin' and dawg started howlin' and Pappy was a-chucklin' and Granny's eyes was twinklin' as Ma followed Pa to the door_."

He points to the picture. "They're all running to the door, see?"

Grace points to the Possum sporting a sly grin and a top hat.

"Yes, he's sneaking away from the house. He's going to hide," Elijah says. "Let's see what happens next."

" '_Now, hush!' Pa said. 'Now, hush!' Ma said. And slowly Pa opened up the door. 'Now, y'all stop your hollerin', your fussin', and your cussin', 'cause there's nothin' that's a-knockin' at the door'_." He turns the next page and continues to read as the main character's family resumes their previous activities, refusing to believe her that a Possum really had been knocking at the door.

_"That possum that was knockin' made a fool out of me!"_ he says, finishing the book.

Grace claps, delighted. Then she opens the book back up again and points to the first page.

"Again?"

She nods.

He laughs, fascinated with the insistence of the little girl. "Okay, here we go."

They go through _Possum Come a-Knockin'_ one more time and get almost all the way through _The Velveteen Rabbit_ before Leah returns.

"That was fast," he remarks as Grace slithers off his lap and runs to her mother.

"I'm getting good at it, I guess." There's a smirk hidden in the corner of her mouth. "What did you read?"

He holds the books up to show her.

"Oh, those are favorites; aren't they, Grace?" Leah says.

Grace looks up at her mother and then points at him, very clearly saying, " 'Lijah."

* * *

Her lips part, but Leah is the one struck dumb now. Grace, silent as the grave for two years, has finally made a noise. Leah stares down at her daughter in amazement and wild hope.

Grace, unsatisfied with this lack of reaction, points again at Elijah and says again, louder for emphasis, " _'Lijah_!"

"Yes, that's Elijah," Leah whispers. "Good job, Grace." She lifts her head and meets Elijah's eyes, who looks just as startled as she feels.

Grace nods, her point made. What that point was, Leah has no idea. She scrambles back onto Elijah's lap and slaps the _Velveteen Rabbit_. "Wead wabbit," she commands.

Leah presses the back of her hand to her mouth as emotion swells up to choke her. Slowly but surely, every last chain that trapped them would be utterly broken.

"Does your mother want to read with us?" Elijah asks, keen eyes fixed on Leah.

Leah swallows.

"Ma!" Grace says, pointing to the chair beside Elijah's.

_She said my name. She called me Ma. _Leah can feel the tears start to fall down her cheeks. The silences will all be filled in. She can't believe it.

She blurs to the chair and sits down, listening to Elijah's voice as he reads the familiar story to her daughter. Grace doesn't pipe up again, but she is no longer a void. She has words, words that will bubble forth when she wants to speak. She's not afraid anymore.

No more fear. Never again.

Elijah lets Grace turn the pages, and with his free hand, he holds hers.

She squeezes it in gratitude.

* * *

"You've got some paint on your nose," Leah remarks as they're cleaning the paint off their hands with turpentine.

"Really?" Elijah asks, raising an eyebrow with a smile. "How did Grace manage that?" He's busily scrubbing light blue paint off of his hands –Grace had decided finger painting sounded like a fabulous activity and got into the paint can. He had volunteered to pry her away from it; his hands turned a nice shade of light blue in the process.

"I have no idea," Leah says, amused. She takes a dishcloth and dabs the turpentine on it. "Hold still."

He doesn't move as she scrubs away at the dried paint on his face. She is focused, intent on her task. Her lips purse as she inspects her work. "I think…" she bites her lip in thought.

Her lips are blushing pink, but chapped from where she's bitten her lip multiple times in thought, and he has an irresponsible desire to dip his head down and press his lips to hers. He wants to hold her in his arms. He wants to make sure that no one ever hurts her again. Because he didn't miss Grace's confusion about her mother's healing process. She has obviously witnessed the utter hell that Leah has gone through, and her mother's rapid healing ability is her concept of normality.

Her children have experienced her trauma secondhand and that should never have happened.

"There we go," she says, jerking him hastily out of his reverie. "No more paint."

His eyes meet hers, and the breath catches in his throat. She is so unassuming that her beauty strikes him at the strangest times.

But he can't act –won't act –until he can fulfill whatever promise he makes with his lips and with his hands. Until he can meet it with his whole heart.

Though the subordinating conjunction implies that such a time is coming… however long it may take.

* * *

**In case y'all wondered, Possum Come a'Knockin' is a real book and I read it just as many times as Grace growing up. It's super cute ;)**


	18. Chapter 18

**AN: hold onto your socks, guys -I zoom through a lot of events in this chapter! (I don't like recapping an episode, so I pulled out the relevant stuff. It's going to accelerate _really soon!)_**

**Chapter 18**

"Brother dearest, be so good as to pour me a little of your blood, would you?" Klaus says, catching Elijah as he comes through the doorway as he comes home late that evening.

Elijah raises an eyebrow. "For what purpose, Niklaus?"

"I'm working on getting the five of us unlinked," Klaus says. "Who knows where Mother is and when she may try something diabolical again. Not to speak of the Salvatores," he adds with a growl.

Elijah winces. The respite from his family's insane schemes and predicaments was entirely needed and he enjoyed every minute, but now he must face their life once again. "By all means," he murmurs. In this precarious state they are all vulnerable.

"Kol has left me with some of his, and I've got Rebekah's already," Klaus says, holding out an empty vial and a small knife.

Elijah takes them both and makes a small incision on his palm, letting the blood drip down into the vial. "What is your plan?"

"If a spell linked us all together, it stands to reason we can be unlinked by a spell as well." Klaus grins.

"How do you plan on getting Finn's blood? We don't know where he is," Elijah says, corking the vial and letting his palm heal.

"I'm going looking for him," Klaus says. "I think I have some incentive for him to return to town." At Elijah's enquiring look, he elaborates, "Rebekah has learned that Sage is back in town."  
Both eyebrows shoot up at the mention of the red-haired woman he hasn't seen in more than half a millennium. "She's in Mystic Falls?"

"Yes, and being as annoying as ever, according to Bekah," Klaus says, taking the vial of blood and putting it in a case with several other vials.

"Well, Rebekah never liked Sage much," Elijah says. "Their…romance was whirlwind paced, to say the least. We were all a bit taken aback." He can recall the shock on his siblings' faces when Finn turned the pretty, strong-minded woman and announced that he loved her. He was attempting to deal with the revelation and try to get to know this possible addition to their family before Finn spoke of leaving with Sage. And Niklaus never coped well with people leaving him. He daggered Finn on the pretext of being a bore, but Elijah knew what made his brother tick.

Unfortunately, what made him tick also made him erratic, irrational, and quite controlling.

"Do you think he'll come back for her?" Klaus asks, raising an eyebrow at Elijah contemplatively.

Finn has proclaimed a willingness to be a sacrifice and a desire to die… and yet… "If he still feels the same way about her. And it's quite possible, especially if she has been searching for him all these years."

"That's what I thought, too." Klaus turns and heads towards the front door. "Keep an eye out for Esther, Elijah. Oh," he adds, as an after thought, "if you hear any screaming, it's because Rebekah's torturing Damon in the basement." He grins and shuts the door.

Elijah opens his ears and sure enough, someone is moaning. "Lovely," he murmurs.

He makes his way to the basement, where Damon Salvatore is hanging up. He murmurs incoherently, bleeding from several cuts on his body.

"Rebekah?"

"Shhh," she says from an alcove. "The baby's dreaming." Her smile has a razor edge, and she smells like smoke, oddly.

"Would you mind filling me in on what is going on?" Elijah asks quietly.

"Upstairs," Rebekah says, blurring to the living room.

Elijah follows. "Well?"

"You've missed a bit," Rebekah says. "Firstly, did you know there was a sapling from the White Oak tree?" At Elijah's surprise, she continues, "It's all right, it was cut down ages ago to build the Wickery Bridge, and I just set fire to the bridge."

"Aha," Elijah says. That explains the smoke. "And Damon is in our basement because…?"

"He manipulated me, to try to find out what I knew," Rebekah sniffs. "So I'm bleeding him dry to get the vervain out of his system. Oh, and Sage is back in town again, the little whore."

"Yes, Klaus told me. He has some plot to unlink us?"

Rebekah nods. "He's going to get the Bennett witch to do the spell."

"You mean force Bonnie Bennett to help under duress," Elijah rephrases.

"Exactly," Rebekah sighs. "And Kol has gone to Denver to keep an eye on her boyfriend."

"Lovely," Elijah says again, with just as much sarcasm. "Let me know when that all works out." He moves to leave the room.

"Where are you going?"

"To bed, sister," he sighs. Only the day before he was the one doing the manipulating and machinating. Suddenly it seems so petty and pedantic to him. "I'm sure we'll have quite a day tomorrow."

As he ascends the stairs, he knows he must continue to care about the goings-on for the time being –he has vowed to protect his family, and his mother is still a threat –however, if they can undo her spell and sway Finn to remain in the land of the somewhat-living, that will be one more step towards safety. After this whole issue is dealt with, he plans to take some time and examine his actions and his heart.

Because he doesn't think he can live like this much more. A change has to happen.

Maybe, for the first time in a thousand years, he's going to consider not just what his family needs, but what he needs.

* * *

Finn hurtles through the front door and skids across the tile.

"Welcome home, brother," Elijah says, looking up from his book on the couch.

"Elijah. Well, I'm glad to know that all my siblings were involved in dragging me back to this place," Finn snaps as he picks himself off the floor.

Rebekah sighs, obviously done with the whole proceedings. "Gather your witch. Let's get his blood and get on with it," she tells Klaus.

"You can't force me to help you," Finn says.

Klaus smiles. "Oh, I most likely could, but why force when I can persuade?"

"Finn?"

Elijah watches his brother freeze at the sound of Sage's voice. He turns, and she throws herself into his arms.

"I missed you so much," Sage murmurs into his neck. "I love you."

"I can't believe it," Finn whispers. "You're here."

"I'm not going to lose you again, Finn," Sage says. "Promise me. Please promise me that."

Promising, Elijah knows, would mean giving up his death wish, abandoning whatever Esther's new plan turns out to be, taking hold of life again. And Finn makes promises less freely than even he does. But the words fall from Finn's lips, and Elijah knows that they were wrong about Sage all those years ago. Finn did love her. "…I promise."

* * *

The word rings with finality. _Dead._

_Dead. Dead. Dead._

_My older brother is dead._

Elijah swallows. Tries to think.

Obviously the unbinding spell worked. The rest of them were still here.

But Finn was _dead, dead, dead. _

Rebekah gasps and sits down hard on the sofa, tears springing to her eyes. Klaus's jaw tightens and only Elijah can see the tiny tremors that wrack his hands. Whether Klaus is struggling not to wrap his hands around Stefan's neck or shock has made him shaky, Elijah isn't sure.

"You killed my brother?" Rebekah demands, her voice venomous in grief.

Stefan doesn't answer. "Damon in exchanged for the last eight weapons that can kill you."

Elijah doesn't hear the rest of the torrid, bloody conversation. What does it matter that there are white oak stakes. What does it matter that Damon is being bartered for the stakes Stefan didn't surrender. What does it matter that they were unlinked just in time.

His brother Finn is dead.

He is the oldest Mikaelson sibling now.

Elijah leaves the room to find some place private in which to grieve.

The woods are quiet, and growing darker as the winter sun dips down over the trees. Maybe he can say, for the first time in centuries, he feels the cold as heavy clouds of snow slowly release their gray burden onto the forest. He wishes he could scream, or rage, or _something,_ but only silent tears leak from his eyes as he sits on a log and buries his head in his hands. His sorrow bleeds from him into the landscape, and as the world turns gray-white, some distant part of him is satisfied.

A fitting tribute to his brother.

He does not know when, but some time later, because the light is all but gone, Rebekah finds him. Sitting down beside him, she says nothing. She doesn't need to.

At her shaky intake of breath, Elijah turns and pulls her into his arms, letting her bury her head in his shoulder as she gasps. If she feels his salty tears in her hair, she doesn't speak of it.

"We didn't get to say goodbye." Rebekah sniffs noisily. "I was so… so _awful_ to him."

_I let him stay in a coffin for nine hundred years and did nothing,_ Elijah thinks, and he can't swallow the taste in his mouth away.

She whispers, "Do you think he hates us?"

He has no solid answers for her. Elijah finally says, "I hope not."

Their silence is lost in the whisper of snow.

* * *

"Elijah?"

"Hello, Kol," Elijah says quietly into the phone.

"Klaus told me," Kol whispers, his voice rough.

That is unexpected, to say the least. "When?"

"He texted me," Kol says, a bitter note of amusement entering his voice. "So it's… true?"

"Yes." The word falls with the weight of a gavel. "Finn is dead."

"Well. He got what he wanted, didn't he," Kol rasps.

"Maybe," Elijah says. He doesn't know anymore. He doesn't know what to think or feel.

"What do you mean, maybe?"

"Sage found him yesterday. Remember her? His great love…"

"The girl with the red hair? The feisty one that rubbed us all the wrong way?"

"Yes. Klaus wanted her to convince Finn to stay alive and loose his lust for martyrdom… but that doesn't matter now."

"So he didn't off himself? He was murdered?"

"I think so."

"What are we going to do?" Kol demands. "We have to avenge him!"

"What has revenge ever brought us?" Elijah says in a low voice. "More death. More pain. And never peace."

"We can't just let this stand!" Kol growls. "Sage, at least, will raise hell for Finn! Why not us, his family?!"

Elijah's eyebrows shoot up. "Say that again," he urges.

"…We can't just –"

"No, no, about Sage."

"Sage will raise hell for Finn…"

"She would, wouldn't she?" Elijah says slowly. "And I've heard nothing. And Stefan traded white oak stakes for his brother –that's a steep price." He makes a decision. "Kol, I need to call you back."


	19. Chapter 19

**AN: Because I am a horribly forgetful person and haven't updated, I'm going to update tomorrow too. (Please remind me of this when you review. Because... I am forgetful.) Enjoy :)**

**Chapter nineteen **

He is on Caroline's porch in less than ten minutes.

"Good afternoon, Caroline," Elijah says gravely when she comes to the door.

"Elijah," she says warily. She knows what has gone on –she might have even helped –and she is afraid. Wise girl.

He gets straight to the point. "I will give you my word not to take retribution for my brother's death if you will tell me how he died, what happened to Sage, and why Stefan was so willing to trade white oak stakes for Damon's freedom."

She licks her lips nervously and steps out onto her porch, glancing around as if to check and make sure that no one can overhear her. "You promise?" she whispers.

"I do," he says.

"They lured him out of the Grill to stake him," she says quietly. "They thought it was their best chance to kill Klaus." Her blue eyes look down and away. She is ashamed.

"Who did?"

"Matt and Stefan and Elena," Caroline says, carefully avoiding who actually did the deed.

Arguably the purest souls among the Mystic Falls group conspired to kill his brother. Elijah takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. "What happened to Sage?"

"Well, she came back to the Salvatore house with one of her groupies," Caroline says. "She started to fight us all, and then she just… started to cough up blood, and fell over. She died," she finishes lamely.

"Dead," Elijah repeats, shocked. "How?"

"We think it's the bloodline," Caroline says. "Finn turned Sage, and Sage turned Troy. So when he died, they all died."

If his siblings had remained linked when Finn died, Esther would have gotten her wish –they all would have died, and the world's entire population of vampires would have died with them. The enormity of such a death toll disturbs even him.

"Stefan gave up the stakes because we don't know who started our bloodline," Caroline finishes. "And if we kill Klaus, then we kill Tyler."

Speaking of not knowing bloodlines _–Leah._ She doesn't know who turned her.

Elijah goes cold. The chances of her being from Finn's line are slim –a one in five chance –and Finn was in a box for nine hundred years… but there was no telling who Sage turned in all that time.

"Thank you, Caroline," he says. "You have my word."

She nods and crosses her arms over her chest. "I'm sorry," she whispers. Her resemblance to his sister at this moment, a little girl lost, is uncanny.

He takes her face in his hands and kisses her forehead. Absolution. "Thank you," he whispers again before he blurs away.

* * *

"Leah!"

She hears him from where she sits, stringing beads and having a tea party with Grace. The urgency that travels through brick and paneling moves her to her feet. "Elijah?" she opens the front door and looks out through the screen at him. Raw relief washes over his face at the sight of her. "What's the matter?" She asks, pushing open the screen door.

He's on her porch in a moment. "Leah," he says again, like her name is a praise on his lips. "I thought…" His eyes close as he tries to find words.

"Hey," she whispers, reaching up to cup his face with her hands. "It's okay. Take your time. We have absolutely so much time," she says with a little laugh.

Something she says lights a spark in his eyes, and his hands cover hers gently. "Today I learned that when an original vampire dies, their whole bloodline dies with them," he says in a low voice. "And I thought that you might be gone, too."

Her lips part in shock. "Who died?"

"Finn."

"I'm so sorry, Elijah," she says as her throat closes in sympathetic grief. She couldn't say she knew him –she spoke to him exactly once –but the serious, taciturn man had been this man's family. And she knew the ache of losing family.

His hands gently squeeze hers. "Thank you."

The door behind her creaks, and Grace peeps with her newfound voice, "'Lijah?"

"Yeah," Leah says with a laugh, letting his hands slip through her fingers as her daughter squeals and launches herself at his legs. He crouches and catches her up in a hug.

Leah buries her hands in the pockets of her sweater and hopes that this is what he needs –an affirmation that he world is not a terrible, dark place. That there are still patches of sunlight if you look carefully and move slowly.

Grace hands him a plastic teacup. "Tea?"

He takes the pink princess cup from her and examines it. "For me?"

Grace nods, expectant.

He dutifully sips at the cup and hands it back to her. "Yum."

She wriggles down from his grasp and tugs on his hand. "Cookie now." She attempts to tow him into the house. The picture is incredibly funny to Leah –her four year old trying to move Elijah is about as likely as her moving a block of granite. But because this is Elijah… he will move for her (after he looks to Leah for permission, of course).

"Go on," she says, shooing him in the house.

They play tea party with Grace's stuffed rabbit and a doll and then move to playing "kitchen," where Grace basically takes all the pots out of the large drawer under the oven and pretends to cook as Elijah offers inquiring comments on her process. Leah strings more beads and laughs.

She pushes Grace's naptime back for half an hour because it's so entertaining and so beneficial. Something happens to Elijah when he's with her children –the thousand years' worth of cares look like they drop off his shoulders for a while. There's nothing so refreshing to the spirit as childlike innocence.

But finally Leah knows Grace _must_ nap at some point during the afternoon, or that sweet child will disappear during the evening and become a holy terror. After she puts her down –no telling if Grace will actually _sleep_ or not, but she's away from toys and stimuli and will at least rest –Leah sits down by Elijah and looks him in the eye.

"Do you need to talk about it?"

* * *

"I feel like I failed him," Elijah admits. "I promised myself that I would protect my family. And I didn't. Finn died and… I couldn't do anything to stop it."

"Sometimes we can't. That's life."

"But we're not mortal."

"No one is invulnerable. Life, however much you get of it, is precious," Leah says. "So you treasure it, whether it's fifty years or five hundred."

He wonders how many years he spent running from Mikael and if that qualifies.

She continues, "Promises like that… are tough to live up to. Don't be too hard on yourself if you know, in your heart, that you couldn't do anything. It definitely will feel that way but…" her hands wave confusedly before knitting themselves together in her lap. "Just don't sit on your grief," she finishes.

"It's not just that," he says. "You have no idea how it felt when I realized that you might be gone, too."

As she blinks hesitantly, he sees the surprise first, and watches it, as if in slow motion, give way to astonishment.

No one should ever feel so astonished that another might actually care about them.

He has said that family is always and forever, and he means it –even if the world is broken and imperfect and he can't always save the day. He will always honor his vows to the uttermost of his ability –and try for further even when they go beyond the capacity of his reach.

But Leah and Grace and Malachi… while they aren't family, he thinks he would fight just as hard for them. He needs to fight just as hard for them, because losing them would be just as detrimental as losing part of his blood family.

He is not perfect, but he can protect both families without abandoning one or the other.

He can love both families.

"Leah," he says softly.

She blinks. "Yes?"

"Do you remember anything more about the man who attacked you? Anything that we might be able to trace, to find out whose bloodline you come from?"

"Um…" she thinks. "He was youngish. He had dark hair, kind of long. Kind of had an… angry, cocky look to him. I had never seen him before." She shrugs. "I don't remember much else. Malachi might, I don't know." She looks down and rubs her hand over her mouth.

"How much of… everything… did Malachi and Grace witness?"

"Me being turned, or…?"

He stays silent.

"I'm pretty sure he blocked Ky's view with his body when he turned me. I don't know if that was intentional or not, so he didn't actually have to see me …die. The rest –" She swallows and looks away. "I don't really know. But a good bit of it, I'm sure. As it got worse, Frank told Malachi to keep away from me. He didn't listen." Darkness threatens to settle back onto her shoulders.

"Leah," he says again, and she meets his eyes once more. "That should have never happened to you. To all of you. You deserve so much better."

"That's sweet. But what's done is done, Elijah," Leah says, smiling slightly. "There really isn't any need to talk of what's past."

"I know that," he says. "Better than almost anyone, I know that. But restoration is a different matter." He stares at her earnestly. "I will redeem every word, every touch, every look that you ever received… if you let me."

Her eyes widen, and he hopes she realizes what he wants to give her. She watches him for a long moment that feels like an eternity –and he knows a thing or two about eternity.

* * *

_If you let me_. It's her choice. She could say no. She could push him away. Because that offer could only come out of an emotion that runs much further than kindness or friendship.

But she trusts Elijah now, as crazy as that might seem. Trusting people is precarious and it's not safe, but that's why it's trust. And the only way she in good conscience can tell him no would be if she couldn't find it in herself to return that emotion… whatever it might be.

But he has never pushed her, never asked anything of her, and always helped her.

And saying she doesn't feel something for Elijah would be a lie.

So, finally – "You can start with looks," she says, the corner of her mouth turning up. "Then we'll see."

He smiles back, and his gaze kindles with a fire that sends sparks down her arms and legs.

She tries not to blush –in vain, she's sure –and smirks.

She could get used to this.


	20. Chapter 20

**AN: goodness I forgot how long this chapter was :) There's a lot in here, get excited! Thanks so much for all of y'all's reviews, they make me smile so much!**

**Chapter Twenty **

When she answers the phone, she's almost positive there has been a mix-up.

"We need you to come down to the school, Mrs. McCann. I'm afraid your son was in a fight."

"What?" Malachi, in a fight? "With who?"

"Another boy in his classes. Your son hit him in the hallway between classes."

"Wait –Malachi _started_ it?"

Yes, she was definitely coming down.

* * *

When she reaches the school –slower than she'd like, she has to take the car –she holds Grace's hand and makes her way to the principal's office. There Ky sits, nursing a bloody nose and bruised knuckles. He doesn't meet her eyes.

"Thank you for coming, Mrs. McCann," a woman in a smart blue suit says. "I'm Principal LeBlanc."

Leah shakes her hand wordlessly.

"Would you like to step into my office?" she holds the door open.

Ky slides off the chair and slinks through the opening.

"Grace, I want you to wait right here," Leah says, pointing to the chair.

Grace, entirely uninterested, plops into the chair and fiddles with her dolly.

The secretary looks up from her desk and whispers, "I'll keep an eye on her."

Leah nods, grateful. The door clicks shut behind her and she settles into a wooden chair beside Ky across from the principal's desk.

"We don't tolerate fighting here at Mystic Falls Middle," Principal LeBlanc begins. "And all rights are punishable by suspension."

Well, there was no denying that Ky and been in a fight. "Am I understanding correctly that Malachi started the fight?" Leah asks, just double-checking the facts. She shoots Ky a look that he does not return.

"A teacher and the hall monitor were among the witnesses confirming it," the Principal says. "Do you have anything to say, Malachi?"

Her son looks up form staring at the carpet and darts glances at the principal and then at Leah. "No," he mumbles.

Sighing, Principal LeBlanc stands up. "Well, Ms. Dominguez at the desk will have your suspension slip. Thank you for coming in, Mrs. McCann."

Leah wordlessly shakes her hand and opens the door. Ky slouches through, every inch of him screaming "don't look at me or touch me or talk to me."

They pick up Grace and make it to the parking lot before she squeals and points to the empty playground. "Go on," Leah murmurs. As Grace scampers away, she turns to Ky. "Malachi."

His jaw tightens and he coils up tighter, staring at the concrete.

"Malachi, why did you hit that boy?"

"Doesn't matter," he grinds out.

"It matters to _me_, Ky," Leah says, her voice vibrating with emotion. "It matters because you hit someone and don't seem to care –"

"I didn't _start_ it!" Malachi exclaims. "Sure I hit him first, but –" he swallows.

"Tell me what happened, Ky."

"He was picking on this girl and calling her names. I told him to stop or I'd make him stop. And then he pushed her into the lockers. So I hit him."

Leah releases a low, shaky breath. "Ky, you shouldn't have done that –"

"Mom, he _pushed_ her, what was I supposed to do?" Malachi yells.

She is strongly reminded of long shouting matches between Ky and Frank that she heard as she remained locked in the basement. _"She's a monster, Malachi, you stay the hell away from her –" _

_"She's my Mom, you shut up! You're the monster, not her! I hate you!"_

The last time they had a screaming match, Malachi ended up with a fist to the jaw, and two seconds later Frank went through the front window.

Ky was defending this girl, not picking a fight. He's still her son. "Fighting isn't ever the answer, Ky. But I'm proud you stood up for this girl. Who was she?"

He shrugs. "I don't know. She's not in my classes."

_He didn't even know her. _Leah hugs him tightly. "Please," she whispers, "no more fighting."

He shudders against her, and finally sighs, maybe sobs. "Okay, Mom."

Healing is a longer process than she thought.

* * *

As punishment, she makes Ky help her do the dishes waiting in the sink when they get home, and assigns him a list of chores to finish over the span of his two day suspension. She figures that a little character building never hurt anybody. Ky, to his credit, doesn't complain (much) and gets started on the list with things like "sweep and mop the kitchen."

Leah turns to the room off the kitchen –supposedly a dining room, but she doesn't have a dining table, so now it's got a comfy desk chair and the card table and lots of cardboard boxes that hold her rapidly expanding jewelry enterprises. She's experimenting with Christmas-themed earrings –candy canes, holly, candles, and wreaths –when the doorbell gasps its strangled chime.

She puts down the beads and wire she is shaping and walks through the kitchen, but as she steps into the hallway, Ky grabs her hand. Leah is surprised, but the scared, white look on Malachi's face freezes her feet to the linoleum.

"Mom, _don't_ open the door," he hisses.

"What is it?" Leah whispers, staring at the door.

"I don't know, but don't open the door," he says firmly.

Malachi has always had very good instincts. "Take Grace in the bathroom," Leah says. That's the one room in the house without any windows. Malachi pulls his sister away from her coloring book and tugs her into the bathroom. Grace follows him without protest, thumb lodged in her mouth. For a fleeting moment, Leah wonders how many times Malachi has shunted Grace away from danger before.

She doesn't like her answer.

The doorbell clashes insistently again, and Leah peers through the window blinds of the living room to figure out just who is it on her porch that Ky would be so instinctively afraid of.

She is not expecting to see Esther Mikaelson.

She picks up the rotary phone and dials the number Elijah left for her yesterday in case she or Malachi remembered anything more about her sire.

"Hello?"

"Elijah, please tell me you have some idea why your mother is on my front porch," Leah hisses into the phone.

"What?" Incredulity and anger battle for dominance in his tone.

"Yeah, and Malachi told me not to open the door. He's usually pretty good about this sort of thing," Leah says.

"Stay inside. I'll be there soon," Elijah promises and hangs up.

"Leah?" Esther's voice, accented and clipped, filters through the wood. "I would like to talk to you. Please open the door."

She places the receiver back in the cradle and grabs a frying pan from the kitchen. "What do you want to talk about?" she calls back, pitching her voice to go through the door. "How you want to kill all vampires?"

"I know you think the worst of me –"

"What an understatement," Leah mumbles.

"I want to talk peacefully, mother to mother."

_Mother to mother._ Those words make Leah slide back the deadbolt and open the front door, if only to be able to see Esther's face when she delivers some choice words about her actions as a mother. Shutting the door behind her, Leah looks this older woman in the eye and glares.

She doesn't look as well as the one other time Leah saw her –at the ball. Her eyes have bags under them, and her skin looks sickly. She smiles wanly. "Thank you, Leah."

"Talk," Leah says tersely, taking strength from the knowledge that Elijah is coming closer every minute. Hopefully Esther won't try any witchy tricks before then. "You might start with 'I wanted to kill my children because'."

"What I did was wrong_,_" Esther says strongly. "I created abominations and violations of nature's law. I need to undo this evil."

"So really, it's all about your need to absolve yourself," Leah says.

"You may think you know 'good' vampires, Leah, but even my son Elijah has spilled human blood without thought. I cannot let this carnage continue."

"Lovely. So why are you even here?" Leah says. "Is some kind of backwards apology? Because if you manage to do accomplish this, you're going to kill every vampire in the world, and you're going to leave my children motherless." She spits the word out venomously. "And I hope you can live with that."

"I have learned that you have not killed a single human, Leah," Esther says quietly. "If you like, I can do a spell to ensure that you can remain with your children."

"And that somehow makes me better than all the other vampires in the world?" Leah shakes her head incredulously. "Just because I've never fed off anyone doesn't mean I've never _thought_ about it."

"But you have control," Esther says.

"Caroline has control," Leah points out. "Elijah has control. Stefan, when he's on his bunny diet, has control."

"They have killed. You have not," Esther says again.

"I'm not denying that, and I'm not making light of it," Leah counters, wondering where the heck Elijah is and why he's not interrupting this strange battle of logic. "It's horrible and wrong. But I know for a fact that they regret it. I don't think you're offering because of that –I think this is your way to ease your conscience. If you let me live and come up with a good reason for it, you'll be just fine killing everyone else. Including your own sons and daughter."

Leah crosses her arms over her chest and juts out her chin. "I've got news for you, lady –I'm just as guilty as the rest. I've had the most horrible thoughts about feeding off the people I love most, and to me, that's just as bad. So don't paint me like a saint. You're going to have to live with every life you take –be they horrible murderers or young girls like Caroline and your daughter Rebekah or mothers like me. No deal."

Esther stares at her levelly for a moment, and finally says, "Very well." She crosses her palms over her chest and whispers something before disappearing in a crackle of sound.

Leah winces, staring at the slightly singed boards where Esther had been two seconds ago. Then she looks around at the neighbors' houses. Hopefully, no one saw the witch apparate off her front porch.

"Mom?" Malachi's anxious voice calls from within the house.

She's still holding a frying pan like a weapon. Oh boy. Leah opens the door back up. "It's okay, Ky." She sets the frying pan down, letting her breath out slowly. "She's gone."

Ky's head pops out of the bathroom door, checking the validity of this statement before emerging wholly. Grace heads back for her coloring book.

"Leah?"

She turns at the sound of Elijah's voice, smiling and wobbly with relief. His concern quickly melts into a smile of his own. "She's gone," Leah tells him. "She… ah, poofed away." Her hands wave in the air to try to illustrate the action.

"What did she want?" he asks, stepping closer to her and taking one of her hands, holding it still and quiet.

Leah laughs a little. "She offered to do something so that when she managed to kill everyone else I could still be with my children."

He watches her face intently. "What did you say?"

"I told her to go away," Leah says tiredly, meeting his eyes.

"She's scary," Malachi says suddenly from behind her.

"I'm sorry she scared you," Elijah apologizes. "What did she do?"

Ky shrugs. "She didn't do anything, but she just feels… scary."

"Enough that you felt it through the door," Leah says, hugging him to her side and pressing a kiss to his hair. He doesn't resist. "Sorry I called you away," Leah tells Elijah, smiling a little. "We were all a bit… freaked out."

"No, I'm glad you called," Elijah says, smiling at her. "I'm glad you're all right." His eyes are warm and soft and dark, soothing her tired, jangled nerves.

He's doing that thing again, the thing he promised –to redeem her with looks.

It's working.

"How about we all have some tea," Leah suggests, and at Malachi's disgusted look, she adds, "and hot chocolate." Because they need something relaxing after that odd and stressful ordeal.

"_Yeah_," Malachi says, heading for the Swiss Miss.

Leah and Elijah share a look. Elijah says, "I believe the correct response is, 'ditto.'"

* * *

He doesn't hear about it until it's over.

Klaus walks through the front door in a suit from the twenties and more hair product than necessary (oh the wonders of hindsight), and carrying a body bag.

"Niklaus?" he asks, rising out of his chair in concern, through instinctively his finger holds his place in the book he was reading on the Eastern Han Dynasty in China. His brother usually carries body bags out of the house, not in. "What has happened?"

"You can rest easy, brother," Klaus says, walking past him and into the room where he keeps their coffins. "Our scheming mother has finally gotten her just deserts."

"Is she –"

Klaus thumps the body into the empty coffin. "Dead. Very much so."

Elijah manages to ask, "How?"

"Stabbed by Alaric Saltzman, the man she wanted to use to kill us. Quite poetic, I must say," Klaus says. "Oh, it seems she did some sort of magic spell to change bodies with Rebekah at some point. She's in her coffin, I believe."

Elijah immediately moves to the coffin on the far left and throws it open. Any grief lingering in his heart or behind his eyes for Esther dissolves immediately at the sight of his baby sister, gray and desiccated with a dagger in her heart.

He yanks it out and pulls over a chair, sitting down to wait for her to wait up. He has already mourned the mother he lost years ago –the one who tended his cuts and soothed his fevers, the one who loved him unconditionally and told him she was proud of him. He never knew the vengeful, self-righteous woman in the coffin on the right, and no tears will fall for her.

The only reason for sorrow is that she became that woman at all.

* * *

_Liquid splatters on her skin and it erupts in a sizzle of pain. The acid-like liquid eats through her dermis and continues to the muscle, making her bleed. She bites her lip clean through to keep from screaming, but a whimper still makes it past her gritted teeth._

_She will not look at him, she _will not_, not to glare or plead or accuse, she will not do it…_

_The next splash of vervain catches her in the face and the pain and shock draw a shriek from her. Her mouth burns and grows back and her tears feel like they will never stop._

_Her ears catch the sound of stirring above her. Ky has heard something. "Please," she finally whispers. Ky can't come down here –she doesn't want him to witness this. For her entreaties, she gets a stake in her hand._

_It won't be long now, she reminds herself. The next face you see will be Fay's and they'll be all right, they'll be okay…_

_But as he hovers over her, his face impassive, the old terror wells up in her again. _What if he actually does it this time what if he hits my heart what if he kills me _–_

_A strangled gasp escapes her as the stakes plunges down –_

Leah sits up in bed, choking back a scream as she clutches the sheets and shudders.

_Just a dream._ She shoves her fist in her mouth. _Just a memory._ She still sweating, though –it wasn't surreal like dream, it was exact and crystal clear, like she was reliving the trauma again. Leah presses a hand to her forehead, listening to her almost human-sounding heartbeat.

The silence breaks as Grace wails softly down the hall. Staggering out of bed, Leah goes to her, rubbing the phantom ache in her breastbone.

Grace is sitting up in bed, crying –and by the smell, she has wet the bed.

"What's the matter, baby?" Leah whispers. Grace sobs, silent. "I know the feeling," Leah says, picking her up and rubbing her back. "Let's get you changed."

In the process of changing Grace's pj's and sheets, the noise must have woken Malachi.

"Go back to sleep, honey," Leah says hoarsely when he stumbles out of his bedroom, shivering at the touch of cold linoleum on his feet. "Grace just had an accident."

"I had a nightmare," Ky says, looking up at her seriously.

She sighs and dumps the dirty sheets into the bathtub. "I guess it's just a rough night all around."

"Can I sleep with you?" he whispers.

He hasn't invaded her bed since he was six years old. She wonders how he has remembered. She has what she calls a "mother's moment" –to tell her child to go back to bed and help them face their fears, or agree and give them comfort? –but caves after little thought.

They all could use a little comfort.

"Sure, Ky," she says, kissing his head. "We'll all pile in, c'mon Grace." At least this way she won't have to remake the bed.

Grace, in new polka dot pj's, crawls onto the bed with her rabbit in tow. Leah pushes back the covers and climbs in, letting her babies curl against her sides and fall asleep to her restful silence.

She can't do the same, because her dream will not stop repeating in her head. _How was it so real?_


	21. Chapter 21

**AN: I'm finished with the semester! Woot! Sorry for the delay, I was traveling :) Enjoy!**

**Chapter Twenty-one**

"Everybody has mittens?" Leah asks, double-checking. "Hats? Scarves?"

"Yes, come _on,_ Mom!" Malachi says, dancing in anticipation at the snow falling slowly outside.

"Grace?" Leah checks.

Grace holds up two pink-mittened hands.

"Okay, let's go," Leah says, wrapping a scarf around her own neck and opening the door.

"Woohoooo!" Malachi yells, running out into the yard and sticking his tongue out to catch the blowing snowflakes.

"Any good?" Leah giggles.

"Needs sugar," he says, throwing her a big grin.

"Snow," Grace says, pointing.

"Yep," Leah agrees.

"Aww, we haven't got any good snow drifts." Malachi frowns at the paltry accumulation of white powder in their yard.

"It's the trees. Let's walk to the school playground," Leah suggests. "There'll be more there."

"Yeah! Then we can go down slides and stuff with snow!" Malachi forges the path along the un-shoveled sidewalks, and Leah and Grace follow behind, hand in hand.

The world is frosted white, quiet and still. And since it's a Saturday, no one is very anxious to get out of their warm houses. They have the whole winter wonderland to themselves.

Leah grins as a snowflake alights on her nose and does not melt. She blows it off and watches it spiral away and down with its fellows.

"Hurry up, Mom!"

Malachi is less concerned with the aesthetics of the neighborhood.

"I'm coming," Leah promises as Grace tugs on her hand to move her along.

* * *

"I can do this by myself, you know," Rebekah says for the umpteenth time, looking down at Elijah at the bottom of the ladder. "It's my job as dance organizer."

"I know," Elijah assures her with a smile. "But I haven't got anything else to do."

Rebekah has continued like a trooper after waking up and hearing that their mother was well and truly dead –in fact, a little too well. He doesn't tell her that he's worried about her. If he pushes, she'll probably try to take his head off for insinuating that she can't handle herself –so he waits and folds tablecloths and stuffs cups and plates into trash bags.

"Then get ready to catch this chandelier," she says brusquely, unhooking it from the ceiling.

It drops into his waiting arms with a slight _thunk_. "Where do you want it?"

"On that far table." Bekah climbs back down the ladder and dusts off her hands, examining the gym. "Steamers next."

"You did a wonderful job decorating, Bekah," he tells her as they pull down the crepe paper.

"Yes, I did," she says bitterly. "And I didn't even get to go." The streamers rip a little more forcefully than necessary.

"I'm sorry."

"Stop apologizing for things that aren't your fault, Elijah," she says tiredly. She shoves the paper into his arms. "Trash."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Don't do that."

"We are in the South," he points out with a smile.

"Hey, anybody here?" a boy's voice asks.

Rebekah's grouchy face clears into a shocked and slightly embarrassed expression –she was not exactly dressed to impress in jeans and a sweater. He had stayed casual today as well, forgoing his suits for another pair of jeans and jacket.

"In here," she calls, running a hand through her hair. "Hi, Matt."

"Hey," he says, smiling slightly. "Caroline asked me to help tear down."

"She's working on the hallway decorations," Rebekah says, her expression dimming a bit.

"Yeah, I saw her as I came in."

Rebekah blinks, not sure what this means. "Um, Elijah, you've met Matt, right?"

"Not officially, no," Elijah says, extending a hand. "Pleased to meet you, Matt."

"Likewise," Matt says, shaking his hand after only a millisecond of hesitation.

"Where did you say the dumpster was, Rebekah?" Elijah picks up the streamers and one of the black plastic bags full of trash.

"Around the back of the school. You can unhook the sound system if you want to, Matt," she offers.

"Cool."

Elijah leaves them to it and walks through silent hallways to the back of the school. After chucking the garbage bags away, he takes the long way around to the gym A) to give Rebekah and Matt more time for… whatever drama, if any, might be about to unfold, and B) to enjoy the snow that was still steadily falling.

* * *

"I don't know that there's quite enough snow to make a snowman yet."

Malachi frowns down at the snow on the ground, disgruntled.

"Snow angels, though…" Leah says, smiling.

"Cool! But I'm going to make a snow superhero," Malachi says, flopping down in the snow and waving his arms enthusiastically.

"You do that," Leah says. "Want to make a snow angel, Grace?"

"No." Grace points at the swing set.

"Ah." Leah helps her onto a swing and pulls back gently, letting her fly forward in the air. Her pendulum motion brings her back to Leah, and she sends her out with another push. Grace thrusts her feet out in front of her. She's getting the hang of swings very well.

Malachi pops up and stands to survey his creation. His whole backside is coated with white, and Leah smiles secretly.

"Who's that covered in snow?"

Malachi turns. "Caroline!"

"Hey, Ky." She walks from the school entrance in a big purple puffy jacket and matching scarf. "What's up?" She gives him a hug and brushes off some of the snow caked onto his jacket.

"Just hanging out," Leah says with a grin. "Enjoying the snow. You?"

"I'm taking down this," Caroline hooks her thumb back at the gym, "the decorations from the dance last night."

"Did you have fun?"

Caroline's face twists. "Ehh. It seems like no one ever has much fun at a dance in Mystic Falls."

"That's a shame," Leah says, frowning slightly.

"Yeah, well," Caroline shrugs. "Maybe it's just a high school curse or something." She smiles ruefully. "Better get back to it. Have fun!"

"Thanks, Car," Leah says.

"Momma, _up_," Grace says, pumping her legs. Leah has forgotten to push.

"Oh my gosh," Caroline says, staring at Grace as Leah attends to the task of getting her daughter airborne again. "She…"

"It's a recent development," Leah says proudly. She can feel a bright grin breaking out on her face, but she doesn't try to stop it.

"That is so awesome." Caroline gives her an impulsive hug. "I'm so glad, Leah."

Leah squeezes Caroline's hand. "Me too."

"Bye, Grace," Caroline says, waving.

Grace waves one hand, intent on her upswing. "Bye Cawoline."

Caroline lights up and nearly skips back to the gym door.

"I worry about the boys when you get old enough to date," Leah murmurs. Grace ignores her, reaching for the flakes spiraling down from the sky.

"Hopefully that won't happen for a few more years."

Joy sparks almost instantly at the sound of his voice. She looks over her shoulder, and sure enough, Elijah's walking towards her over the snow-covered grass. She beams. "Fancy meeting you here."

"It _is_ surprising, isn't it? But I offered to help Rebekah finish cleaning up after last night," he says.

"We're taking advantage of the snow," Leah says, biting her lip. Malachi is slowly creeping around the slide with a snowball in his hand. "Among other things."

Elijah quirks an eyebrow. "What –" his question is cut off as Malachi launches a snowball that catches him in the arm.

"Gotcha!" Ky crows, ducking back behind the slide.

Elijah laughs. "You do know that instigating a snowball fight with someone who's faster than you never ends well?" He ducks the next snowball with ease.

"I still got you when you weren't looking," Ky says smugly.

"I think this is the part where you retaliate," Leah murmurs, smoothly pushing Grace into the air again as they both giggle.

Elijah scoops up a handful of snow and packs it, lobbing it in Malachi's direction.

"Missed!"

"Not for long," Elijah points out, heading for Ky's sanctuary with purposeful stride and handfuls of snow.

Ky makes a break for higher ground, and Leah's giggles turn into full-on gales of laughter as Elijah corners Malachi in the slide's tower and pelts him with snowballs.

* * *

He's fought his way up the stairs and has conquered the castle, though his clothes have sustained some casualties due to snow. Elijah throws the wriggling boy over his shoulder and walks back down calmly, unbothered by his burden's thrashing and contagious giggles.

"I've captured the assailant, milady," he says, while Leah hides a smile and Grace claps. "What should I do with him?"

"Put me down!" Malachi exclaims.

"Elijah?" his sister's voice calls, perplexed, "What are you doing?"

He looks over the shoulder that isn't occupied and waves at Rebekah, standing at the gym entrance frowning at him. "I've apprehended a vagabond," he says with a smile. "Come meet Leah."

Rebekah dusts off her hands and walks towards them. "Leah, this is my sister Rebekah. Rebekah, this is Leah, and that's Grace," he points at the girl who has hopped off the swing and come to stand behind her mother, "and this is Malachi." He indicates the boy on his shoulder.

"Elijaaaah!" Malachi's wails have moved from indignant to embarrassed.

"Hello," Rebekah says. "What did the poor boy do?"

"He threw a snowball at me." Elijah decides to take mercy on him and sets Ky down upright. "It's very dangerous to tangle with a vampire in a snowball fight," he tells Ky with a smile.

"I was winning for a while," Ky defends, brushing himself off.

"So you were," Elijah acquiesces.

"It's lovely to meet you, Rebekah," Leah says with a smile.

"Mmm," Rebekah says noncommittally. "So you're the mystery girl."

"Apparently," Leah mumbles, shooting him a glance. "Have you really not said anything about me?"

"I have," he defends himself.

"That's just what we started calling you at the ball," Rebekah drawls. "Very close-mouthed before that, he was." She crosses her arms over her chest, lilting her head to the side. "So how did you meet Elijah?"

"It was really more that he met me," Leah says, the corner of her mouth quirking into a smile.

"I asked him to help Mom," Malachi says, shaking his head to get his hair to lie right on his head.

Elijah says, "But why me, Ky? Two of my brothers were there as well, and a few other vampires. Why not ask one of them?"

Ky stares at him oddly. "I don't know why, pacifically. You just… felt right."

"Specifically," Leah corrects.

"That word," he agrees. "Are you done swinging, Grace?"

Grace doesn't respond –not that Elijah can hear –but Malachi moves to the swings and hops on. He makes a mental note to ask him later more about what this "feeling" was and investigate why Malachi can understand Grace when she doesn't speak a word.

"What was wrong with you?" Rebekah asks Leah.

"I was about four years overdue for a fill-up on blood," Leah says, a bit self-deprecatingly. "Very dry and very panicked and extremely stricken."

"Bloody hell," Rebekah replies in appreciative surprise.

"Very apt," Leah agrees, grinning suddenly, and Rebekah grins back.

Elijah watches them as a sudden unexpected hope rises up within him –maybe this time Bekah will find someone she can actually talk to, who won't use her or manipulate her or hurt her –things of which he himself is guilty.

"Gracie, stop hanging onto my knees." She swings Grace up onto her hip. "Say hi to Rebekah." Grace ducks her face into Leah's shoulder. "Come on, it's Elijah's sister. Be polite."

Elijah hides his smile behind his hand as Grace very slowly lifts her head and waggles her small fingers at Rebekah. "Webeksa," Grace says.

Rebekah's lips part in a surprised and beautiful smile.

"That wasn't so bad, was it?" Leah says, smiling knowingly at her daughter. "You stinker."

Her nose wrinkles, caught out in her affected shyness. She pouts and says, " 'Lijah," stretching out of her mother's arms and reaching for him.

"What did I say," Leah says as Elijah accepts her small weight. "Stinker." She folds her arms over her chest and shares a look with Rebekah.

"It's quite easy to wind Elijah around your finger," Rebekah says, smirking at her brother. "It seems like this little one has already figured out how to do it." The adults all chuckle as Grace, disgruntled, burrows into Elijah's jacket. "The question is," Rebekah says slowly, turning to Leah, "Have you figured it out yet?"

Leah blinks at her. Elijah's about to speak, but what Leah says cuts him off. "Even if I have, I wouldn't do it." Rebekah's frank appraisal sparks into surprise, and her smirk fades into a small, genuine smile.


	22. Chapter 22

**AN: thanks so much for the kind words you guys! :) I'm excited to be home. For those wondering about Evil!Alaric, I'm not going down that storyline. Because I didn't like it even when the show did it. So he died like he was supposed to and it was deserving of all the tears I cried watching that episode. Please enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter twenty-two **

"I made it! Even with this clap-trap breaking down in the middle of Nowheresville," Fay says, throwing herself out of her truck into Leah's waiting arms.

"I'm glad you're okay," Leah mumbles into Fay's puffy coat, holding her tight.

"Ah, Leah, it was fine –a trucker picked me up and took me a gas station where I could call a tow." Fay pulls away and grabs her duffel bag out of the cab of the ruck and shuts the door. "Then I ended up getting a really good deal on the tow and the fix, too! But it was too late to keep driving so I stayed the night in some really skeezy motel. Hope I didn't worry you too much," she adds. "I didn't know if you had a phone yet, so I couldn't call."

"Well, you didn't say when you were getting here, so I wasn't going crazy. And I'll get you the number. What was wrong with it?" Leah casts a dubious glance back at the truck as they trudge up the front steps. With that bucket of bolts, it could pretty much be anything.

"Uh, the carburetor? Carbonator? I don't know." Fay shrugs. "Where's my favorite niece and nephew?"

Grace pops out of the kitchen and laughs as Fay whirls her around. "No, no! Down!" she demands through giggles.

Fay's so startled they _both_ almost go down. She ends up sitting down hard in the middle of the hallway and staring wide-eyed at Grace. "Holy…"

"Yeah, she's talking," Leah says, smiling hugely.

Fay whoops hugely, hugging Grace. "You go girl! When did this start?" she asks Leah, looking over her shoulder.

"Just a few weeks ago, a day or two after you left," Leah admits.

"It's 'cause you missed your Auntie Fay, huh?" Fay launches into a tickle fest and Grace shrieks with laughter.

"No," Grace struggles to say in between her giggles, " 'Lijah."

Fay raises an eyebrow at Leah. "_Do tell_," she says, her voice dripping suggestively.

"I think she wanted Elijah to understand her better." Leah refused to address the thinly veiled question in Fay's voice. "We've learned to hear her through her silences. He can't do it as well as the rest of us."

Grace nods her affirmative and wriggles out of Fay's grasp. "Potty," she announces.

"You can go potty by yourself, Grace," Leah says.

Grace heads towards the bathroom, and Fay picks herself up off the floor. "So… Elijah." She grins.

"What do you want to know?" Defeated, Leah starts towards the kitchen to get them all some lunch.

"He been around much?" Fay slides into a chair at the kitchen table and leans back, awaiting a story.

"He visits every few days. Ky and Grace love him." Leah pulls out stuff to fix sandwiches and figures they can all just help themselves. She goes ahead and makes PB&J for Grace.

"Right." Fay stares at her. "He give any reason why he keeps hanging around?"

"This is his…" Leah tries to find the right word, and fails, "refuge, when his family's world gets too crazy."

"So it's all about him?" Fay's lip curls.

Leah's face burns, and Fay raises her eyebrows. _I can't even trust my own body anymore,_ Leah thinks. "No."

"So he _likes_ you," Fay declares triumphantly, baring her teeth. "I _knew_ it. Has he kissed you?"

"Fay!" Leah exclaims, shutting the refrigerator door. She just knows she's turning even redder. "No!"

"Then he needs to hurry up," Fay grumbles, propping her head up on her hands. "What's he waiting for?"

"He's waiting for me," Leah snaps.

The silence coils around their ankles in the kitchen as the two sisters stare at each other, both surprised. Leah licks her lips and takes a deep breath, testing her words for their truth. "He's waiting for me," she says again, setting her shoulders and looking Fay square in the eye. "He said that he –he wanted to redeem every bad look, word, and touch that I ever got, _if_," she stresses the word, "I'd let him." She pulls plates out of the cabinet over the stove.

Fay blinks. "Well, what did you say?"

Leah puts the plates on the table and opens the silverware drawer. "Set the table and I'll tell you."

Fay moves quicker than Leah has ever seen. "I'm going, I'm going!" she says. "Tell!"

"I said he could start with looks." Out of the corner of her eye, Leah can see Fay struggling to form words. "I didn't know it was possible for you to be speechless. Is that good or bad?"

"Leah."

She turns all the way around to look at Fay.

"That is _awesome,_" Fay says sincerely. "I'm really happy you took that chance."

Leah's eyes flicker down to focus on a discolored part of the linoleum for a few seconds, but then she lifts her head and smiles back at Fay. "So am I," she admits.

"Prouda you, sis," Fay says.

"And, um," Leah says, "hang on a sec." She blurs out of the kitchen and into her bedroom, reaching into the bedside table for the slim envelope. She swallows hard and looks at it like it contains a bomb. And maybe it does. But the single sheet of paper is something that she needed to do.

She blurs back into the kitchen and hands the envelope to Fay. "Take it before I chicken out," she says.

Fay looks from the envelope to Leah. "Is this what I think it is?" she asks softly.

"I went to the lawyer's office downtown and asked what usually went into divorce papers," Leah says in a low voice.

"This is really light," Fay points out.

"So?"

"I just…" She shrugs. "I thought you would have yelled at him more."

"I'm not going back there, Fay. Not even to rub his face in it."

Fay pockets the letter, pursing her lips. "Fair enough."

She takes the lunchmeat out of the refrigerator. "Where is Grace? She's been in there an awful long time, and I didn't hear the toilet flush."

"I'll get her. Are we ready to eat?"

"Yes, just about."

"Gracie!" Fay calls. "Time to eat!"

Leah grabs the jug of water from the refrigerator and pours it into cups while waiting for the two of them to come back.

She hears the toilet tank hiss. "Forgot to flush," Fay says, leading Grace into the kitchen.

"Well, we're just gonna have to work on that some more. Wash your hands!"

"Okie-dokie," Fay says. She lifts Grace up to the sink so they can both wash. "And then we'll say 'grace'."

They all have a good giggle about that.

* * *

That night, they lie on the living room floor and play and talk. Leah feels a little bit of pressure for tomorrow –it's Thanksgiving, after all; shouldn't she be planning something or cooking something? Do her children expect a 'traditional' Thanksgiving day meal? –but after a few minutes of anxiety and a chat with Malachi, she's put most of it aside.

Actually, what he had said was, "Mom, we're not thankful for _food_. I mean we are, but it's not what we're thankful _most_ for."

When she asked him what he was most thankful for, he had said, "You."

She may or may not have cried when he went to go do his homework.

Now she watches as Fay and Malachi do a puzzle and gives thanks for her son's beautiful heart.

"So Ky, where'd your Lego ship go?" Fay asks. "Finish it yet?"

"Yeah, Elijah and I finished it a while ago," he says. "It's in my room, want to see?"

"Sure!"

He scampers down the hall and Fay raises an eyebrow at Leah.

"What? He likes Legos," she mumbles into the carpet. She makes another mental note to call an eye doctor, since her other mental note obviously got shuffled under a mental rug.

"Wow," Fay says appreciatively when Malachi returns bearing his finished ship. "That's awesome, Ky."

"Elijah found the right pieces and I put it together," he explains.

Fay chuckles. "Well, it may work that way for you and Elijah, but this puzzle is kicking my butt –don't depend on me to hand you a whole lot of pieces."

"I can find _you_ the pieces, and then you can put them in," he offers, settling back down onto the carpet.

"Good deal." Fay rolls onto her stomach and props her head up, staring back down at the puzzle of two cats on a porch swing.

"Fair warning –Caroline gave that to me and said that she couldn't be 100% sure all the pieces were there," Leah warns as Grace climbs onto her stomach holding her rabbit. "Gracie, don't suck your thumb." She gently pulls the thumb from Grace's mouth.

"It's a hazard of puzzling in general," Fay murmurs, intent on the pieces.

"Found one!" Malachi says, handing her the piece.

Leah can hear footsteps crunch the dry, dead leaves outside, followed by the creak of the porch steps. She smiles. "Somebody get the door."

Fay moves, but Ky jumps up. "I've got it!"

As his feet pound to the front door, Fay makes a playful face at Leah. "Nice call, Spider Woman."

"Ha ha. Perks."

Ky bounds back into the room and plops back down on the floor. "Elijah's here!"

Leah smiles at his upside down self from her position on the floor. He's in a suit again, and he feels very far away. "Hi. You remember Fay, Elijah?"

"Of course," he says, smiling brightly. He pops the button on his coat and sits down on the carpet with them, reaching for her sister's hand and kissing it politely. "How are you, Fay?"

"Pretty good, all things considered," she says, grinning. "How are you?"

"I'm doing well, thank you," he says. "How was your trip?"

"Truck broke down halfway through, but I got it fixed and kept moving," Fay says. "Couldn't miss this."

"Found another," Malachi says, handing the piece over to Fay. "It's the cat's paw." Fay presses it into place.

"I'm glad you're that excited about putting puzzles together," Leah says, grinning wryly at Fay.

"Putting puzzles together with my favorite people in the world? Why would I _not_ be?" Fay makes a face at her.

Leah chuckles, and then winces as Grace shifts position on her chest. "Okay, Grace, I think you need to get off now." Being elbowed there is not fun.

Elijah obligingly lifts Grace off and into his lap, and Leah sits up. "How are you doing, Miss Grace?" he asks her.

"Good," Grace replies succinctly.

"I'm glad."

"I hear you got her to start talking," Fay says, raising her eyebrows at Elijah.

"I'm fairly sure that Grace was the one who decided that she should begin to speak up," he says, gazing fondly at the little girl in his lap, who is attempting to hide a yawn. Leah sees it, but figures since it is a holiday tomorrow and no one has to get up early, bedtimes can be extended.

Running a hand through her hair to make sure it is free of carpet fuzz, Leah stretches. "That's what I told her," she states blandly, shooting Fay a glance that quite clearly says "drop it or else." Fay rolls her eyes and resumes staring at the puzzle.

As Elijah smiles at her, his eyes grow warm and bright, and Leah's eyes flick away, wondering who released the flock of butterflies in her abdomen. He is making no secret of his appreciation and –if she dares to believe it, hope for it –affection.

_What do I do with it? I don't know –how should I –what do…_

Her fingers unconsciously clench in the shag carpet.

But it occurs to her, like a small petal opening up to the sun, that she doesn't need to _do_ anything. He isn't _expecting_ that. He is just giving her this glimpse –to show her that he cares.

So she lifts her head, and looks him in the eyes that still shine for her, still outpour the same feeling freely, and does her best to convey everything she feels back.


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter Twenty-three **

Thanksgiving morning is a pretty chill affair. They all sleep in –well, relative to when they would normally get up –and Leah makes French toast for brunch around ten thirty. She feels like they have earned it.

Grace finally fell asleep in Elijah's lap around nine-thirty, and Leah put her to bed. After that, they migrated to the kitchen table and Fay taught them all how to play Egyptian Ratscrew. It had been an enlightening experience. Fay outlawed any vampire speed or strength right at the start, and Leah and Elijah both agreed that was fair. However, when the game really got going, Elijah and Fay were hugely competitive and great at slapping the card combinations –Elijah in particular was good at getting all the sandwiches. Malachi, while competitive, didn't have very good cards. Leah saw all the combinations –it just didn't click with her that her hand should be moving to slap them.

Eventually Leah and Malachi lost all their cards and had to wait to slap back in while Elijah and Fay bantered back and forth. Fay eventually won.

"You've got to keep up, Leah," Fay had said, shuffling the deck.

"Cards aren't my game," Leah had replied placidly. "Scrabble, now…"

Elijah had laughed and said he would bring Scrabble some time to see if she was telling the truth.

Leah smiles now, reliving the night in her head.

The phone rings around 3 PM. "Hey Leah!" Caroline exclaims.

"Hi, Caroline, happy Thanksgiving!"

"Thanks! Same to you! Speaking of, I was wondering, since I know that Fay was planning to come for the holiday, do you have any plans for tonight?"

"Not at the moment." Leah looks at Fay napping on the couch with Grace and Malachi finishing the cat puzzle. "Why?"

"Weeeeell, I cooked a big lunch for my mom and me, because I wanted to give her something special."

"That's awfully sweet of you."

"Yeah, but now she's got to go on duty, and I think we might be eating leftovers for days," Caroline says ruefully. "I wondered if you all would be up for coming over and watching football or a movie and helping me eat some of it."

"That sounds fun," Leah says. "Let me ask Fay what she wants to do, hang on." She puts her hand over the receiver as Fay stirs at the sound of her name.

"Hmm? What'd you say?" she mumbles. Leah relays the offer to her as Fay rubs her eyes and yawns. "Yeah, sounds great. You don't have a TV."

"How about it?" Leah asks Ky. He looks up distractedly and then gives her thumbs up.

"We'd love to," she says. "When do you want us there?"

"You can come over whenever!" Caroline says cheerfully.

"Okay, we'll be there soon!"

* * *

As it turns out, when Caroline says "leftovers for days," what she really means is "leftovers for years."

"You made _all of this_?" Fay says in shock, staring at Caroline's kitchen counter covered with casserole dishes, bowls of mashed potatoes, and most of a turkey that had to be about twenty pounds.

"And two pies," Caroline says.

Fay eyes her like she might sprout extra limbs to explain how she did it all.

"What? Vampire speed," Caroline says, brushing her hair off of her shoulders. "I pulled out some games and toys for Grace and Ky, and you can just grab whatever you want and graze."

"You could have invited an army," Fay says. "Why didn't you?"

"Bonnie invited Elena and Jeremy over to her house, and I didn't think Stefan and Damon really _do _Thanksgiving?" Caroline says, wringing her hands. "I don't know if it's a vampire thing or what, but…" she shrugs. "And Tyler's not here and Matt's working. I think. Like I said, I wanted to do this for my mom."

"Did she like it?"

"Yeah," Caroline says, a happy smile flashing across her face. "Yeah, she did."

"Ky, come get food," Leah calls. She'd better start feeding them if they want to make a dent in this at all.

Ky skids into the kitchen and stares. "That's a _big_ turkey."

"Yeah… it was on sale, so I figured, why not?" Caroline wrinkles her nose. "That might not have been the best idea, in hindsight."

"Can I have the leg?"

"Sure, sweetie." Caroline gets him a plate.

"Thanks, Car. Mom, can I watch TV while I eat?"

"You'll have to ask Caroline, Ky, it's her house," Leah says calmly.

"Sure, Ky. Just be careful of the carpet."

"Grace will be sitting at the table," Leah says firmly. She doesn't trust a four year old with gravy on a white carpet. "Where is she?"

"She got into the play kitchen out there," Fay says, filling up her own plate.

"It's been a long time since I played with that thing," Caroline sighs, getting herself a glass of tea. "It could use some love."

"I guess she'll ask for food when she's hungry," Leah says, shrugging.

They end up curling up on Caroline's couch and watching the Macy's Parade that she recorded. Leah can't really remember the last parade she saw, and there are several balloon characters she doesn't recognize. In the middle of it, Grace decides that she is a little hungry, so Leah gets up and helps her get some food before sitting her down at the kitchen table to eat it.

She happens to glance out the window and see a faint dusting of white coating the lawn. "It's snowing," she calls to the other room.

"Wow, really?" Fay exclaims, hopping up and going to the windows. "Holy cow!"

"Have you never seen snow before?" Caroline asks, looking over the couch.

"Well, yeah, but it never stuck," Fay says, intrigued by the falling flakes.

"Then we should go play in the snow!" Caroline says, eyes lighting up.

"Can we, Mom?" Ky asks.

They've brought coats and mittens, and it's not frigid out. "As soon as Grace finishes dinner," Leah says with a smile.

Caroline finds some extra scarves and passes them around while Leah helps Grace wash her hands, and they all bundle up. Caroline sports a cute winter coat for the look of it, Leah is sure. She's got a windbreaker on over her sweater, and she'll be just fine.

Once she's positive Ky and Grace have enough layers, they head out into the winter wonderland.

Seeing Fay's face light up in giddy exuberance is a treat. Leah chuckles as her sister squeals and giggles right along with Grace as they dash along the street, spinning in the snowfall.

"Oh my goodness, we have to take pictures," Caroline says, pulling out her iphone.

"Whoa, whoa, put that away, my hair is a haystack," Fay objects.

"No, keep going." Leah grins widely.

"Smile!" Caroline snaps the picture. "You're next, Ky!"

He takes the opportunity to duck behind a tree, but Caroline moves faster. "Gotcha!" she crows.

"No fair!"

"All's fair in love and war, mate," a masculine voice says. "That's rule number one."

Caroline flips her hair over her shoulder and gives him a perfunctory glance. "Hello, Klaus."

"Caroline." the blond man greets her with a smile. He has dimples –Leah hadn't noticed before. His brother stands with him, looking faintly amused –the one Fay had been interested in (and she _had_ been interested, no matter what she had said; Leah still knew a few things about her sister).

"What are you doing here?" Caroline asks, frowning at him.

"Taking a walk, love. As you seem to be. There's no law against that, is there?"

Caroline swallows a smart remark and lifts her chin. "You remember Leah and Fay?"

"Hello," Leah says.

"Ah, yes, Elijah's –"

"Don't say mystery girl, please," Leah interjects with a sigh.

"I was going to say date," Klaus says innocently.

Kol slips past him and walks to Fay and the children. Leah keeps one eye on them. "It's lovely to see you again, Fay."

Fay look at him slyly. "Really," she drawls.

"Regrettably," Klaus says, "Elijah and Rebekah went somewhere tonight; otherwise I'd call him and tell him what pleasurable company he's missing out on."

"He'll make it up to her later," Fay calls, a knowing smile on her face.

Leah blushes –he _did_ say he was going somewhere with Rebekah last night, and those were the words he used exactly. She had told him he shouldn't apologize for spending time with his sister.

"My brother the gentleman," Kol murmurs. "The example to us all."

"Oh, yeah? And what are you?" Fay says, crossing her arms and cocking a hip.

"Slightly less than gentle," Kol says, all sharp teeth and wicked smile.

Fay purses her mouth and rolls her eyes. "I figured."

Malachi allows Grace to clamber onto his back for a piggyback ride, but he frowns at Kol. "Who are you?"

"Kol Mikaelson. Who are you?" Kol tilts his head to the side.

"Malachi," he says. "This is Grace. Leah's my mom."

"Ah. Good to meet you, mate," Kol says.

"Also known as my _favorite_ nephew," Fay says, starting for Ky with tickling intentions in her eyes. Ky dodges and runs off down the street, Grace bouncing against his back as she clutches his neck and laughs.

Leah smiles and follows at a slower pace, turning and walking backwards after a few steps. "Aren't you coming?" she asks.

Kol and Klaus look surprised, but after a second, they walk along with Leah as the snow spirals in coils and corkscrews of silver-white.


End file.
